Simply Irresistible
by storywriter84
Summary: Now complete. Last chapter up.  Emma came to Seattle to escape her life from New York.  Is Derek really leaving?  Is he coming back?  What about Callie?  Read and find out!  Thank you guys for reading and your reviews.  I really enjoyed writing this story
1. Chapter 1

Simply Irresistible

CHAPTER ONE

The emergency room of Seattle Grace was hectic, as usual, but even more so at 10am on a Tuesday. There had been a several car pile up near the airport. There was so much going on, even the Chief was in the ER, helping and directing traffic. Another ambulance parked at the trauma doors and the back doors of the ambulance flew open.

"Thirty-three year old Caucasian Male," a young female said, jumping down with the gurney, keeping the oxygen mask over his mouth. "There was head trauma. He has shattered glass lodged in his face, neck, and left arm. . ."

"Tell her I'm sorry," the patient mumbled.

"Dude, I keep telling you it's alright," the female said. She wasn't wearing a paramedic uniform, but jeans and a NY Yankees Baseball jersey-style shirt. Her dark hair was pulled back into a pony tail at the base of her skull and there was blood splatter all over her. "It couldn't have been avoided, Jerry. I'm fine. You'll be fine."

"Emma, what are you doing here," the Chief asked as he rushed over to take the patient to the next available trauma room.

"Richard! I'm here to see Derek. But there was an accident. I was okay, so I got out and started helping people. Jerry here is the one who t-boned me. I pulled him out of his car. I couldn't just let him sit there. I. . . I wasn't sure . . . wasn't sure what to do."

"Take him to Trauma Room 3," the Chief directed the paramedics. He grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her to the side. "That's a lot of blood, Emma. Is any of it yours?"

"Blood," she asked, looking down at herself. "No, no, I don't think so. It happened so fast . . . I don't think so."

"Okay, let's get you out of here and examine you. I'll need you to sign some forms if you want to help out anymore."

"Sure, Richard, whatever you want." 

"Okay, let's take you down the hall and I'll call Patricia." He kept a hold of her arm and maneuvered her across the room, trying to stay out of everyone's way. They found an empty exam room just down the hall. He picked up the phone off the wall and called Patricia who would be in his office as he helped Emma onto the exam table. "Thanks, Patricia," she heard him saying. "That's great." He hung up and turned to her. "Alright, what happened out there?"

"Like I said, it happened so fast. I don't know what caused it, but I can tell you the reaction," she chuckled somberly. "I checked myself over. There are no lacerations. I don't think I bumped my head. You know, pretty lucky over all. Rental car is totaled though. I don't think I went more than a mile and half. The car in front of me spun around and nailed the passenger side. Then Jerry, that's the guy I brought in, t-boned me on the driver's side. I'm actually surprised I wasn't hurt."

"You Shepard's really know how to live," the Chief chuckled shining a light into her eyes to check her pupils. He took his stethoscope from around his neck to check her heartbeat. "Okay, well, vitals are steady. Are you in any pain, Emma? You have to be positive. As much as I would love to have you help out, I can't have you keeling over because you're trying to brush everything off."

"I'm fine, Richard," she said. "But check my right ankle; I might have twisted it pulling Jerry out of his car." She lifted her leg up for the Chief to examine with a goofy smile on her face. She was surprised though, when he scooted a stool over and pulled up her pant leg to examine her ankle.

"It does look a little swollen," he said as a knock sounded on the door. "Come in."

A very pleasant looking woman walked in, carrying a clip board in her arm. "Okay, Richard, here are the forms you requested and a bottle of water and a. . . muffin?"

"Everything is for Emma Carter," he said, using his head to indicate the girl beside him. "I'm going to get an ice pack," he said, "Emma, Patricia will help you fill out the forms. I'll be back in a moment."

"Okay, Dr. Carter, I need you to fill out the top form," she said, handing her the clipboard first. A few moments later the paperwork was all filled out and Patricia sat on the stool talking with Emma about the accident as the younger woman drank the water and ate the muffin. "That must have been horrible."

"I really didn't have time to notice," Emma said.

"Oh, Doctor Mode," Patricia laughed. "It's helpful."

"Darn right," Emma said. "I wonder where Richard is? I want to get out there and help."

"Let me go get you a pair of scrubs to wear and an id badge. He should be back momentarily with that ice pack." Patricia looked at the ankle. "It doesn't look that bad. I wonder what's going on? Anyway, I'll be back regardless, hopefully Richard will be by then, too."

The door opened a few minutes later. Instead of Patricia, the door opened to reveal Richard Webber, Derek Shepard, and Mark Sloan.

"Are you alright? What happened," Derek asked, rushing over to her. "What are you even doing here," he said, pulling the small flashlight from his pocket and aiming it at her eyes before she had a chance to speak.

"There was an accident," she tried to explain.

"You were a part of this chaos," Mark asked, walking towards her slowly. "I bet you caused it."

"Oh, did not," she said, turning away from Derek to look at Mark. "Derek, if you don't quit trying to blind me with that, I'm going to kick you."

"Yeah, I'm real scared," he said, pocketing the flashlight. "Richard says your ankle is swollen. Let me see." Emma extended her leg as she rolled her eyes. "Ice pack," he said, holding out his hand as he looked at his youngest sister's ankle. "You should probably keep it on there for at least a half an hour."

"You two probably have all kinds of surgeries and procedures you could be doing," she said, angrily, "instead of running into an exam room to fawn all over me. Now, the two of you get out of here so I can get to work."

"Work? You're moving here," Mark asked, smiling. "Great."

"Are you," Derek asked, smiling as well. "That would be good."

"Would it? I'm so glad it pleases you. And no, I haven't decided yet. I just know I can't go back to New York."

"What happened," he said, stilling holding the ice pack onto her ankle. She sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get away from her "brothers" until they knew what was going on.

"So glad to see you two made up, by the way," she commented. The two men smiled at each other.

"We're getting there," Mark said, kissing her cheek. "Now, spill."

"Okay, well, Nigel came back to New York for a few days a couple weeks back. He told me he was going to western Europe and wouldn't make it back for our fifth anniversary. So, I decided to take some time off and surprise him in Sweden and boy did I surprise him."

"What happened," Derek asked, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.

"He was cheating, of course! You men just can't keep it in your pants," she said, kicking the ice pack off her ankle and jumping off the table. "You aren't happy unless you screwing as many women as possible. Why do you even get married? Why put anyone else through the emotional ringer just because you don't have the willpower to keep it under wraps for five minutes." She blanched realizing what she had just said and to who. She didn't get the reaction that she thought though.

"I'll kill him," Mark said.

"Me, first," Derek argued.

"Only after I'm done with him," Richard growled.

"Oh, knock it off. He's being served divorce papers as we speak," she said, "I'm not dragging this out. It was probably stupid to get married in the first place. Listen, he'll sign the divorce papers. We have a prenuptial agreement so they'll be no fighting. Can we go save lives or are you going to stand here and make death threats." 

"I can't believe he would do this after what we told him. . . ." Derek stopped in his tracks as he caught the look his sister was giving him.

"After you told him what, Derek? Did you 'talk' to him before the wedding? I told you not to. I told you to let it go. I can't believe that you would just blatantly disregard my wishes on my wedding day! Oh, you truly suck." She leaned against an empty wall. "Thank you," she said. "I know that you guys will always do this crap to me, but thanks for looking out for me." Mark and Derek nodded.

"Well, I'm sorry I missed your wedding, Emma," the Chief said, "because I would have had a few words to add to that 'talk' of theirs."

"It's okay," she said, "I'm sure if he ever shows his face in Seattle you guys will make good on that 'talk' of yours."

"Let's hope he does, then," Mark said. "Let me go find you some scrubs . . . never mind." Patricia walked in holding a pair of navy blue scrubs.

"Will these fit," she asked, holding the shirt up.

"I'm sure they will. It's a good think I wore sneakers today. Richard? What title do I get to use?"

"You're an Attending in New York, right? Go with that. Anyone has a problem with that send them to me. We'll leave to let you get dressed. I'm going back down the hall to the ER. Meet me there in five minutes." Richard left, smiling. Derek had to go and scrub in on a surgery. He refused to leave, however, until Emma started smacking his shoulder. That left Mark.

"I'm glad you're here," he said, pulling her in for a hug and get specks of blood on his scrub shirt. "Do you need an extra skill cap?"

"I haven't been pulled into a surgery yet," she said. "Are the people here going to give me crap for being an Attending at 25."

"Probably, but send them to me before you send them to the Chief. Some of these people need to be knocked down a peg or two. See you later?"

"Absolutely. Oh, and if the police come in with my luggage, have them stuff it somewhere until I get done. Now, go, I have to change." Mark left, truly happy for the first time since Addison left. He and Derek were on the mend and Emma was in Seattle, at least for a visit. Maybe he could get her to stick around.

Emma changed quickly, folding her jeans and jersey-shirt up. She had no idea where to put them and Patricia had left already. She walked out of the room and to the nearest supply closet, pulling out a patient's possession bag and stuffing her clothes in it. She set it down at a Nurse's station and hurried back into the ER after pulling on the extra yellow smock and gloves.

"Okay," she heard Richard saying above the nose. "We have an Extra Cardio Attending down here if anyone needs her."

"Incoming patient," a paramedic yelled. "Asian female, approximately 22, head and heard injuries. We've pushed two of epi in transport. Patient is responsive." 

"Emma," Richard yelled. "Over here." Emma rushed across the ER. It was a bit smaller than she was used to or maybe just more crowded. Either way it took her several seconds to reach Richard and her new patient.

"Is that a wooden stake?"

"Looks like it," he said.

"There's no way to tell my looking exactly where the stake pierced. It's possible it hasn't even hit the heart. We'll need an MRI or an X-ray to confirm. It'll need to be fast because she's loosing blood. Where are we taking her."

"Trauma one is open," he said, pointing, "let's start there."

"Keep Mark on stand-by," she said, "after I got this stake out, he might have to graft some skin or something." Richard nodded, pushing the gurney. "Out of the way," Emma yelled. They moved the patient into Trauma One. "Alright, which one is faster, Richard? MRI or X-ray?"

Twelve hours later, Emma (with Richard's help) had been able to remove the stake and repair the heart. It had been a long and grueling surgery. They had called Mark in when they were ready to close up so that he could make sure there wouldn't be a gaping wound.

"This is pretty bad," he said, "but I think I can handle it."

"Of course he _thinks_ he can," a guy standing behind Emma said.

"That's enough Karev," Richard said. "Go on, Mark," he said, "we're here if you need us."

"Emma, have you seen this," Mark said, poking at the gap with a finger. Emma moved forward.

"Of course I have, Mark," she said, "if you remember correctly, this is _my_ surgery. Now what do you need to do to leave minimal scarring." Emma ended up helping Mark, more to keep him on track than anything else. He seemed to have a problem, wanting to have Emma in the thick of things. It took Emma about ten minutes to figure out what he was doing.

"Mark, I already told you what happened and that I wasn't going back to New York. If you want me to stay in Seattle, all you have to do is ask."

"Emma," he said, looking up at her from across the patient, "stay in Seattle."

"No."

"But you said. . ."

"I said you had to ask Mark. And that, dear _brother_, was not a request but a demand." She stepped back. "Alright, the heart is done, beating on its own. I'm going to get out of here."

"Emma, meet me in my office after you scrub out. I want to talk to you," Richard said, looking over Mark's shoulder.

"Sure thing, Chief," she said with a sarcastic salute. "Whatever you say."

"Damn straight," she heard Richard said, "because I'm the Chief." The surgical team laughed.

[b

I'm not going to beg for reviews. You'll review it or you won't. I hate when people say they'll only continue writing if you review their fanfiction. That's bull, my dear, and you won't hear it for me.

Also, I promise that all my chapters will be at least 2,000 words long. If it's wasting your time, it's wasting my time.

Of course, any comments would be appreciated, but not required. 

M. Nichole


	2. Chapter 2

This chapter has a lot of history in it and may be a bit boring, but it's necessary to the rest of the story

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GREY'S ANATOMY. THE CHARACTER EMMA SHEPARD-CARTER IS MINE, HOWEVER. REALLY, IF I OWNED GREY'S ANATOMY O'MIZZY WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.

CHAPTER TWO 

The wooden stake had actually been a chair leg from the moving truck that had been driving down the road in front of the patient. The woman was incredibly lucky. She would take a lot of time to recover; the chair leg just barely missed both her lungs and her heart.

Emma took her time scrubbing out because she knew that Mark would try to either bust in the Chief's office or try to listen in on the other side of the door. Just as she got done, Mark came in, tossing his gloves in the trash and pulling his mask down. "It's so good to be in surgery with you again."

"It's not like we did a lot of surgery together in New York."

"Yeah, but we always got together for lunch or something," he said, "I saw you more. Even if Derek and Addison were off doing something, you and I would still get together."

"Yes, when you weren't trying to get into the new Nurse's pants," she said, leaning against one of the sinks with a smirk. "Walk with me to the Chief's?" Mark nodded. She waited for him to scrub out and they walked together to the Chief's office. Mark stopped them when they came across Derek talking to a resident.

"Look, I'm not about to just let us go, Meredith," he said. "Someday we are going to be happy. We'll have that happily ever after you're always talking about. You'll be my damsel under stress and I'll be your knight in shining whatever. Until then, I'm just asking that you meet my sister. The way Richard and Mark are talking, you may end up working with her."

"Hello, dear brother," Emma said, "bragging about me again?" Derek turned around and smiled. "Don't use that Shepard smile on me. It's never worked, I'm your sister, _and_ I'm immune."

The Resident, Meredith, laughed. "I told you. That McDreamy Smile is going to get you in trouble."

"McDreamy?"

"Oh, yeah," Mark said. "And I'm McSteamy," he bragged.

"McSteamy," Emma questioned slowly.

"Yep," Meredith said. "You must be the sister Derek was talking about. Uh, I'm Meredith Grey." She stuck her hand out.

Emma shook it. "I'm Emma Carter. Soon to be Emma Shepard once more. So, this is the girl Addison was talking about?"

"When have you talked to Addison," Derek asked.

"You think you're the only one who knows how to text people?" Mark and Emma laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing," Emma said. "Hey, after I meet with Richard, do you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure," Mark said, smiling.

"Okay," Derek said.

"Meredith," Emma turned towards her brother's on-again/off-again girlfriend, "are you free to come to dinner with us?"

"Sure," she said cautiously, "my shift is over in fifteen minutes."

"Great," Emma said, "I'll see everyone in a little bit."

"You're not going in there without me," Mark said.

"Mark," Emma protested as he grabbed her arm.

"Yeah, actually, I'm coming, too," Derek spoke up. "I'll even lead the way." Derek walked off in front of her and Mark started to follow, not letting go of her arm.

Emma turned back towards Meredith. "Um, help?"

Meredith smiled.

"We'll meet you back here in a half an hour."

"Great," Meredith said, even smiling. "I'll be here." She watched the three of them walk off. And Derek got upset when she accused him of hovering – ha!

Emma wasn't sure how she got herself into the mess that was Derek and Mark, but it was infinitely better than anything that could be happening to her in New York. She knew for sure at least three people wanted her here. She would miss people in New York, sure, but she had family here without having to drive hours to see them.

The three of them sat down in Richard's office and only had to wait about ten minutes for him to get there. "Did my luggage turn up," Emma asked, remembering she wouldn't have anything nice to wear to dinner with her "brothers" and Meredith.

"Yes, Patricia was in the main lobby when they brought it in. She has it down the hall," he said. "Great job today, Emma. That was impressive."

"We Shepards are good like that," Derek said.

Emma elbowed him. "Thank you, Chief."

Richard smiled. "Actually, I was hoping you'd do me a favor."

"Are you going to ask her to stay," Mark asked, leaning forward.

"Mark Sloan," Emma chastised him.

"Actually, Mark, I was wondering if she would be interested in the opening we have in Cardio," Richard said. "Well, what do you say?"

"To what," Emma asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"For a surgeon, she doesn't seem to be very smart," Mark stage whispered to Derek. They both chuckled.

"To the Cardio opening," Richard explained.

"What Cardio opening," she asked, sighing.

"The one I was just talking about," Richard frowned.

"Oh, the one you were talking to _Mark_ about? Is that the one? Oh, well, why didn't you just say so," Emma asked.

Richard shook his head. "Okay, alright, I give in. Emma, we have a Cardio position here that I thought you might be interested in. Would you like to take a few days and think it over?"

"No thanks," she said, smiling, "I'll take it. What is it?"

Derek and Mark chuckled again.

"We need another Cardio Attending," he said, "and the Head of Cardio position is available as well. I know how you have a problem with authority. Let me know what you decide."

"Okay," she said, holding the last syllable out. "Can we do the rest of this in the morning? Maybe tomorrow afternoon? I'm tired and I'm hungry and I need to find some place to stay." She let her head fall back against the chair. "Apparently I've become this person who doesn't think things out anymore. At least I told the hospital I was leaving. Cripes, what am I going to do?"

"You can stay at the trailer with me," Derek suggested.

"Um, thanks but no thanks. I remember Addison telling me how little room there was one there were two of you and you were both sharing the same bed."

"Stay at the hotel with me," Mark suggested, "or get your own room. You know, just until you find something permanent."

"Wait," Emma said, turning to Mark. "You've been staying in a hotel _all_ this time?"

"It's convenient," Mark said, turning away from her accusatory eyes.

"I'm sure it's convenient," she said. "It's very convenient that you don't have to cook or clean up after yourself." This time Derek, Richard, and Emma laughed _at_ Mark. "Alright, this is all well and good but I want to change out of these sweaty scrubs and into my own clothes. We'll decide about living arrangements at dinner." They stood up to leave. "Richard, what are you still doing here anyway? Isn't Adele waiting for you? You better not have been keeping her waiting when you were standing in there during that surgery!"

"Of course not," he sighed. "Adele is still not speaking to me."

"Richard, I'm sorry," she said, stepping forward and hugging him. She had always felt some sort of bond with Richard ever since Derek took her to one of his old Professor's lectures. Adele had always been wonderful too. Emma made a silent vow to do her best by both of them, even if she didn't stay in Seattle.

That seemed unlikely, though, that she would leave Seattle anytime soon. It was already, albeit scarily, starting to feel like home.

Patricia had gone home so Richard showed Emma the closet in which they had stowed her bags. "Emma, that's a lot of bags," Derek said.

"I told you," she said, getting frustrated, "I'm not going back to New York." _Ever_, she added silently, _if I can help it_.

"Alright, well, we'll just put it in Derek's jeep, because it's bigger until you decide what you're doing," Mark said, grabbing some bags.

"You can use the bathroom in my office, Emma, it has its own shower," Derek said, grabbing a few more bags. "It's down the hall this way. We could even leave your bags there."

"Fine," Emma said. She followed her real brother and her fake brother down the hall. They put her bags by the bathroom. "Derek, I'm not going to be done in time to meet up with your girlfriend. Go meet up with her. I'll be there as soon as I'm done."

"Take your time," he said, kissing her forehead. "We'll be waiting." She waved him away and started going through her bags. She didn't realize Mark was still sitting there until she was pulling out a clean pair of panties and a more comfortable bra.

"Oh la la," he teased, smiling, from the couch on the other side of Derek's office.

"Don't you have some nurses to flirt with while I'm getting ready," she asked, setting the items in her hand down and looking for her black skirt. "So, you haven't found anyone . . . interesting . . . since Addison, then, huh?"

"Nope," Mark said. He watched her as she dug through her bags. Something was wrong with her. She was always the organized one. She was the ultimate caretaker; she took care of everyone. She _seemed_ okay with everything. Alright, so picking up everything and changing coasts was a bit drastic but Derek had done the same thing. Though he hadn't healed completely yet and his relationship with Meredith . . . was complicated.

Mark had never liked Emma's husband, Nigel Carter, the world famous wildlife and nature photographer. The man had never done anything to him personally but, well, he wasn't _good enough_ for Emma.

Mark had been one of those rich kids raised by a nanny. Both of his parents' had busy social lives and left him to his own devices most times. The Shepards' had changed that. They had accepted him and loved him after he met Derek in school – kindergarten in fact. Then Papa Shepard passed away – a complication with cancer, he had had a heart attack. Emma, being the youngest at five years old, was old enough to understand Papa wasn't coming back and had taken it the hardest. Derek and Mark had stepped in and watched over her. They were both combination big brothers/best friends, whatever she needed at the time.

Mark and Derek went off to the same college when Emma was 3, being 15 years older than she was. Emma had taken it hard; Mark remembered many crying phone calls. She had always been an especially gifted person, student. Hell, she graduated high school at 12. It seemed to be more common now, but when she was doing it, she was one of a couple. She graduated with a bachelor's degree at 14. He still wasn't sure how she had done it – any of it. She did in two years what had taken him four to do, the same as Derek. Of course, Mark had tended to party a bit harder than Derek who was often seen having a good time. At 13 and 14, it would have been hard for Emma to do anything _but_ study. She had gone off to med school, picking one away from both Mark and Derek and close to her Aunt Linda who take care of her during college.

Derek had fallen in love with Addison while Mark had lots of one night stands in the next state. Addison had had to pass the little sister test – which she did with flying colors and that wasn't terribly hard when you're trying to impress a eight year old. All of the Shepards had loved Addison – heck, they still did.

Then there had been Emma – 15 and in Med School to be a doctor, a surgeon. She graduated at 18 and became an intern at the same hospital Derek, Mark, and Addison were Residents. She had surprised them all when she picked Cardio as her specialty after her year as an intern. She and Addison had been incredibly close and they all assumed she would follow in her then sister-in-law's specialty. But it made sense when they thought about it – Papa Shepard had died from a heart attack. There was no doubt now that if someone had known when Emma knew now, Papa Shepard would still be around – or not, there was no way to tell.

Maybe she figured that out too and it made her sad. Maybe. . .

"Cripes, Mark, if you're going to sit there at least pretend to listen," Emma scoffed.

"I'm sorry," he said, "what were you saying?"

"Just that I'm madly in love with you," she told him, smiling.

"Really?"

"No," she said. "Eww, you _are_ my _brother_. Remember?" Mark nodded. Fake brother or not, better him then someone like Nigel Carter. "Alright, I'm going to take a quick shower and change and then I'll be ready. Are you going to wait here or what?"

"Sure," Mark said, "I'll wait here." Emma gave him a confused look, grabbed her shower bag, and went into the bathroom. He would figure out what was wrong with Emma, because it was something besides her pending divorce. Of that, he was sure.

Derek and Meredith showed up before Emma came out of the bathroom. No one was dressed up since no one had decided where they were going, Derek and Mark laughed when Emma came out of the bathroom wearing a knee-length black skirt and a red t-shirt with the Coca-cola logo on it over a long sleeve black shirt. "I just need to find my boots," she said, "I hope this is okay. Why are you two jerks laughing?"

"It's just. . .so. . . you," Derek said. "I really have missed you."

"Should have come home for a holiday or two," Emma said, waving him back. "I'm looking for a red duffel bag. Has anyone . . . thanks." Meredith handed her the red bag. Emma smiled at her and opened it, and pulled out thigh high boots. "Excellent."

"Those are great," Meredith said.

"I know, Katherine got them for me last Christmas."

"Alright, I'm sorry I didn't come home for Christmas or Thanksgiving or New Years," Derek said, leaning against the wall.

"And my birthday and your birthday and Dad's birthday and his death thing," Emma added.

"Right, that, too," Derek said. "Can we go eat now or should I just starve until tomorrow."

"Alright, alright," Emma said, brushing her hair out. "Let me just. . ." She sprayed some gel in her hair and curled it with her hands. A quick sprits of hair spray and she was ready to go. "You can't have me going out looking anything less than perfect," Emma said, faking a scandalized toned, "just what would people say?"

"That you're human," Mark said.

"Being human is overrated," Emma said, laughing. "Just joking. Are we eating or what?"

"We could just go to Joe's," Meredith suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Derek said.

"Alright, works for me," Mark said, "let's get out of here."

I'm not going to beg for reviews. You'll review it or you won't. I hate when people say they'll only continue writing if you review their fanfiction. That's bull, my dear, and you won't hear it for me.

Also, I promise that all my chapters will be at least 2,000 words long. If it's wasting your time, it's wasting my time.

Of course, any comments would be appreciated, but not required. 

I was a little iffy about this chapter but I needed to set some background up. Mark and Emma will not being getting together (hence the 'eww' comment). It's obviously Meredith and Derek. I'm throwing some ideas around for good old Mark. Some of the other show's main characters are coming out to play in the next chapter. Keep your eyes open.

Oh, also, this fic will go on as if Season four didn't start. (This is to avoid the fact that at the end of the show on 9/27 George told Izzie that he loved her.)

M. Nichole


	3. Chapter 3

I was originally going to try to format it as if it were the TV show but decided instead to keep it based around the "main" characters that I'll be working with. So, the story is AU because Season Four didn't happen or isn't happening whatever. But Lexie will show up at some point. Oh, and keep an eye out for strangers from Emma's not so distant past! (Not this chapter though, lol).

Also, I realized that I seem to be having a little trouble with Meredith and Mark. I'm working on that too, so stay patient. Thanks a bunch.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GREY'S ANATOMY. THE CHARACTER EMMA SHEPARD-CARTER IS MINE, HOWEVER. REALLY, IF I OWNED GREY'S ANATOMY O'MIZZY WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.

**CHAPTER THREE**

They went to Joe's and a great time was had by all. Emma was introduced to Joe, who thought she was amazing. "Joe's quality people," she said, when they found a table in the back of the bar.

Meredith laughed. "Oh, yeah, he's the god of liquor."

Emma watched as Derek and Meredith enjoyed their dinner. "I know," Mark whispered.

"Huh?"

"You probably haven't seen him that happy in a long time," he said quietly.

"Yeah, it's been at least two years," she whispered back. "Granted, I haven't seen him for the last thirteen months."

"They're good for each other," Mark continued, "if they'd just let go of the small stuff."

"When did you become such an expert?"

"He's my best friend, Emma, even when he's mad at me – he's still my best friend."

"What are you two whispering about," Derek asked. Emma sipped her cosmopolitan and smiled. "Emma," he said warningly. Emma took another fry off her plate and pushed it forward.

"Alright, I need some place to stay until I find a place of my very own," she said.

"What are you doing with The Loft," Derek asked.

Emma bit her lip. "Yeah, I don't know. I bought that while Nigel and I were engaged, so. . ."

"So, it's yours," Derek said firmly. "I still can't believe the nerve of that guy to . . ."

"Derek," Emma rolled her eyes at him. "Knock it off!" He shook his head and looked away. "I've been taking care of myself quite well over the last year. I don't need you to fight my battles. My divorce doesn't have to be a war. That was the reason I insisted on the prenup agreement. It was a precaution."

"If you thought for a second it wasn't going to work," Meredith asked her, "why did you get married?"

"Well, because, at one time, I loved Nigel with all of my heart and then some. I could say I was young and stupid but I won't use that as an excuse. I was young, yes, but I don't think I've ever been considered stupid." Emma smiled as Mark and Derek chuckled.

Derek turned to Meredith and explained a little of Emma's protégée status. "That's fantastic. I'm impressed," she said, smiling.

"We Shepards seem to be impressive people," Emma replied, "or so I've heard recently." Mark chuckled. "Back to the issue at hand . . . I need a place to sleep."

"We have an extra couch," Meredith offered.

"It's a very comfortable couch," Derek said, nuzzling his girlfriend's neck. Meredith smiled again.

"Wait a second," Mark said, when Emma smiled back. "You'd prefer to stay on Meredith's couch then at a hotel? Really?"

Emma laughed. "I didn't say I was going to stay on Meredith's couch," she said, nudging Mark with her shoulder. "It's a nice offer, Meredith, but I'll have to pass. I suppose I can stay at the hotel."

"The Chief's staying there, too," Mark added. Emma sighed.

"Is it really that bad," Emma asked. Derek nodded. Emma bit her bottom lip and pulled out her cell phone, dialing a number. "Hi, Adele. Yes, it's good to hear your voice, too. Well, it might be hard to get on a plane and visit you since I'm already in Seattle. I haven't decided yet. I don't know. Yes, he's asked. At least for a while. Oh, well, yeah, I could do that. Does Derek know where? Alright, then, I'll see you in about a half an hour. Yes, sure you can. I'm at a place called Joe's. It's by the hospital. I don't think that's its real name. Alright, I'll be here. Yep. See you soon Adele. Bye." She hung up the phone and shoved it in her pocket. "I'm staying with Adele, she'll be here shortly." She finished her drink. "Who wants another round?"

Meredith offered to help her with the drinks. So they order another Gin & Tonic (Meredith – who promised to lay off the tequila that night), another double scotch on the rocks (Derek), another beer (Mark), and another cosmopolitan (Emma). "Are you girls having a good evening then," Joe asked.

"Yes," Meredith said. Joe smiled at her, pleased.

"And what about Emma," he said turning to her.

"Yeah," she answered, "it's been a while since I've spent time with Derek and Mark and it's nice to get to know Meredith."

"That's what I like to hear," Joe said, handing their drinks over. Emma paid for the round and they made their way back over to the table.

"Oh, no, they're up to something," Emma said, carrying Mark's beer and her own drink.

"What do you think they're up to," Meredith said, warily eyeing Mark and Derek whispering to each other.

"No idea, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," she replied. "Alright boys, break it up and spill whatever secret or gossip you have going on between you."

"Oh, har de har har, it is to laugh," Derek said, gratefully accepting his drink from Meredith. "What makes you think we're up to something?"

"Because it's you," Meredith replied.

"Oh, bravo," Emma smiled. "She's great by the way."

"I think so," Derek said, putting his arm around her.

"I'm glad that the two of you are getting along so well."

"Oh, we have our moments," Meredith said, "some days are better than others." Meredith and Emma started talking about Derek, which turned into a conversation about Mark. The conversation was getting juicy when Adele walked in the bar. "Oh, Mrs. Webber," Meredith said, "it's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you, too," Adele replied. "Alright, where is my hug?" Emma jumped up, all smiles, and hugged Adele. "Oh, sweetie, it's so good to see you," she said. "Thank goodness for email though or I think I would have gone crazy this past year."

"You should have come to New York for some Shopping Therapy," Emma said. "Have a seat and visit for a bit. It's not like I have work in the morning."

"You mean Richard hasn't offered you a job yet," Adele asked, surprised.

"Oh, he has," Emma smiled, "I just haven't said when I was starting. I thought I'd take some time to relax, maybe run down the coast and see Addison for a little bit. You know, maybe go to the beach."

"That sounds wonderful," Adele said with a sigh.

"Maybe you should come with," Emma suggested, sipping her new drink. "Whoa, Joe _is_ the god of liquor." Meredith nodded.

"Cosmopolitans are not hard to make," Mark argued as to why he was arguing he hadn't a clue.

"Yes," Emma agreed, "but any man is a god when he's supplying the booze." Emma winked and took another sip. "Alright, Adele, if you're ready, we just have to grab my bags from Derek's office and we can go. I guess I am a little tired."

"Jet lag," Mark said, "I hate that."

"Sure, sweetie, that's fine," Adele said. "It was nice seeing all of you. Derek, you behave yourself, do you hear me?"

"Yes, M'am," Derek nodded.

"I'll go with you two," Mark offered. "Um, we took Derek's car over anyway." Emma chuckled. Mark offered both women his arms and they walked out the door.

"Look, finally alone," Derek said, scooting closer to Meredith.

"Your sister is really nice, Derek," she said.

"You mean _this_ sister is really nice," Derek corrected. "Nancy isn't exactly America's Sweetheart. I know that I've said all my sister's are annoying, but Emma is all that bad."

"You've never really talked about your sisters," Meredith said, "or your family." Derek gave her a look. "So, I don't talk about mine either. Does that make us strange?"

"I hope not," he said, pulling Meredith in for a hug. "There are worse things than strange though."

"Yeah," she agreed, closing her eyes and breathing in his McDreamy scent. Derek chuckled.

"Do you want to come to the trailer tonight?"

"Yes."

Mark had taken Adele and Emma back to the hospital and had even packed the bags into Adele's SUV. Now he was all alone, again, lying on his king size bed (alone), again, thinking – what a bad combination, this alone and thinking thing. He knew that he had been acting strange all day. It was weird to have Emma in Seattle, but wonderful. He had been fooling himself to believe that he had left New York for Addison. She could do so much better than Mark Sloan – McSteamy Manwhore. It had hurt though when he saw Addison coming out of the on-call room with Karev. It was like she was announcing to the whole hospital – who knew all about the bet between them – that Mark Sloan, one of the US's top plastic surgeons, was not good enough for her. And if he wasn't good enough for Addison . . . he shouldn't think about it.

No, he had come to Seattle to talk to Derek. Who, at the time, had wanted nothing to do with him. They were better now, not much, but at least they talked – got together for the occasional drink. Emma would fix them though she had always been good at that. As soon as she fixed the problem that was Adele and Richard he was sure she would turn her attention to her brother and himself. He needed people is his life, he wasn't as hard and cold as everyone thought he was. Emma got that. Derek probably did, too. He just needed Derek to listen. He also needed to get laid. Oh, he was in for a long night – a long, long (lonely) night.

Izzie Stevens felt odd. She was at home, alone, again. Meredith has said something about Derek and his sister. She wasn't sure what was going on but Meredith was not home. George was still not talking to her and Alex was at the hospital, probably still sulking about Ava/Rebecca/Jane Doe. Too bad she and Cristina weren't closer, than at least she'd have someone to talk to. Izzie had many nights alone recently. It made her want to bake and she had baskets of muffins and a few cakes on the counter from the last two nights already. _No more baking, _she thought. _I need a new hobby_. She often thought about taking up extra shifts to compensate for her lack of social life but she was hoping for it to pick up and she didn't want anyone thinking they could count on her to take their shift if they wanted to take off.

The door opened. Alex came in and walked past Izzie into the kitchen. He came out carrying two muffins while shoving a piece of chocolate cake in his mouth and ran up the stairs without so much as saying 'hi' to her. She knew that he wasn't mad at her, just preoccupied. It didn't make her feel better, but she knew.

The door opened again. George peeked his head around the corner. "Hi," he said, quietly. Izzie scrambled off the couch and walked over to him. He had a duffel bag hanging off his shoulder, another one sitting at his feet, and a tattered backpack across his other shoulder. "Um, Callie kicked me out and I didn't have any place to go. Not really, anyway. I mean, I'm sure my Mom would have let me move back in, but I didn't really want to tell her . . . so I was hoping I could stay here. I know that Alex moved in so the couch will be fine, but, I. . ."

"Don't be stupid, George," Izzie said, frantically pulling the duffel bag across the floor. "Of course you can stay here. This is your home. It doesn't matter - whatever it is. Of course, you can stay here. Meredith will be happy to have you back. Have a seat, George; I'll go get you a pillow and a blanket. I'll be right back." Izzie took the stairs two at a time and grabbed a blanket out of the hope chest at the end of her bed. She took a pillow off her bed, too. What else would George need? She was so glad that he was back - that he was talking to her.

"Iz," Alex called out. "Izzie," he asked, coming out into the hallway. "What are you doing," he questioned, his mouth full of blueberry muffin. He walked into her bedroom. "What's with the pillow and the blanket? Oh," he said, flopping down on her bed, "are we having a sleepover?"

"George is here," Izzie said, glancing around the room. "George is here and he's moving in. He'll stay on the couch until we figure this out. George is here."

"I heard you Iz," Alex said, turning over on his back.

"We'll figure something out," she said, "everything will be okay."

"Why wouldn't it," Alex asked. "Aside from Burke leaving and Rebecca going back to her husband, everything is pretty good around here, right? Well, except for Shepard's sister. I don't think she likes me so I doubt I'll get in on any good surgeries. Have you met her yet?" Alex looked over. At some point, Izzie had left. He sighed, got up and went back to his own room, locking the door behind him. Yeah, it's going to be a long night.

This chapter is a little better than the last one. I wasn't going to post it so soon (I wouldn't want to spoil anyone ;) but I couldn't help myself) but here it is. I hope you like it. I have the next couple of chapters written but I want to make sure they'll work before I go posting them.

M. Nichole

PS – Watched Love/Addiction tonight and I am so glad to see the old Bailey back, but poor Callie can't catch a break!


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Derek had been called in for an emergency surgery. So Meredith came in with him since she had left her car at the hospital. "Hi, Izzie," Meredith said. Izzie had two of her interns today. There rest of them was off for the day as was Meredith. "How are George and the other intern doing?"

"George? George is fine. Why wouldn't he be fine?"

"What's wrong with you," Meredith asked, giving Izzie a weird look. "Are you okay?"

"_Fine_," Izzie said. Meredith shrugged and started digging around in her locker for something. "Uh, Mer?"

"Yes, Izzie."

"George moved back in last night."

"That's great? Wait, what? Why? What happened?"

"I don't know, I think Callie kicked him out," Izzie said, sticking her head in her own locker.

"So George is just staying with us," Meredith asked to clarify.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure he's _moving_ in," she said, "you know, for good." Meredith nodded hesitantly. "It's for the best Meredith," Izzie said.

"Alright, Izzie, fine," Meredith told her. "It's not like I'd turn him away anyhow. I just wanted to see how my interns are doing."

"Yeah, I'm sure they're fine," Izzie said turning to Meredith. "I think George and the other one are doing rounds or something. Everyone is fine, Mer. Don't worry. Are you completely off today?" Meredith nodded. "Alright, I'll see you later."

"Sure thing, Iz," Meredith said, grabbing a small box out of the bottom of her locker and walked out of the locker room.

"Good morning, Dr. Grey," Derek Shepard said as Meredith got on the elevator.

"Good morning, Dr. Shepard," Meredith said as a Peds Resident walked past her. "I miss you, already."

"I'm right here," he said. "Emma called. Are you interested in getting together for lunch?"

"You should spend some time with your sister," Meredith protested. "If she really is going to stay here we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other. She hasn't seen you in more than a year."

"Are you running away," Derek asked, wrapping his arms around her waist. Meredith shook her head. "Okay, I will have lunch alone with my sister. Do you have any plans tonight?"

"You could come over to the house," Meredith suggested.

"Great idea."

They slid apart as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Dr. Miranda Bailey stepped on, glaring at the pair of them. "Humph," she said, standing in the middle of the elevator – Derek on one side and Meredith on the other. The two of them smiled at each other across the elevator. The elevator stopped at the next floor and Dr. Bailey got off, not even bothering to look back.

"I'm going to go home," Meredith said after the door shut. Derek nodded. "I'll see you tonight?" He nodded again, his smile widening. Meredith smiled back and got off the elevator at the lobby, waving at Derek as the doors closed. "Oh, hi, Mrs. Webber, Emma. How are you two this morning?"

"Oh, just fine," Adele said. "Emma wanted to come in and see Richard before we went shopping."

"Yeah, it'll just take a minute," Emma said, looking at her watch. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me, Adele? You haven't seen him in weeks."

"And I can go weeks without seeing him," Adele said, "it's not as if he's making an effort."

"He called last night," Emma argued, "you wouldn't let me answer the phone." Adele just shook her head. "Alright, I'm going to catch Richard in his office before he gets too busy. I'll call you when I'm done." Adele nodded. The women hugged each other before Emma ran off yelling, "Hold the elevator, please."

"How are you and Derek doing," Adele asked.

"Much better," Meredith answered. "I'm not sure how it happened though."

Adele laughed. "Sometimes it's better to not question things. Oh, is it your day off," Adele asked, noticing Meredith Grey was dressed in street clothes.

"Oh, yeah, Derek had a surgery and I had to come in and check on my interns. I left my car here last night so. . ."

"Don't worry, dear, that's fine. I just didn't want to take up any of your free time."

They talked for a little while longer before Adele told Meredith to go home because she looked dead on her feet. Adele bought herself a cup of coffee and sat down. She had spent a lot of time in this hospital over the years. The late night talk with Emma popped into her head.

"_Adele, you love Richard," Emma had protested when the phone rang. Caller ID had shown it was from the Chief's office. "How can you continue to ignore him? He's miserable."_

"_Emma, you don't know what you're talking about," Adele said from the kitchen, fixing them both a cup of tea. Emma sat curled up on the couch in the living room. "That man may be miserable now but what about all that time I was miserable? No one was yelling at him to answer the phone."_

"_Had I been here," Emma said as Adele walked in, "there would have been. I yelled at him tonight, in fact, I thought he was keeping you waiting. He told me you two hadn't talked in weeks. Derek mentioned your miscarriage. I'm sorry."_

"_I'm fifty years old," Adele said, "I have no right to be pregnant."_

"_You're a woman," Emma argued, "it _is _your right and I better never hear you say different."_

_Adele nodded, taking a seat beside Emma after sitting the cups down on the table. "All those years, it was just so hard. And then they split up and then there was the drinking. He was a mess. I was miserable. He was here but I was still all alone."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

_Adele had explained about Ellis Grey, Meredith's mother, who had since passed from a complication with Alzheimer's. "Adele, I'm so sorry," Emma said, hugging the older woman. Part of her story hit close to home for Emma. "I have no idea how people can cheat on each other. Why did you stay?"_

"_Because he's Richard," Adele said. "I love him, I do. But I can't wait around to play second fiddle to the hospital anymore. He only use to come home to sleep and then he was gone again." _

"_I'm sorry, Adele," Emma said. "I know he loves you too, but that doesn't excuse what he did."_

"_Don't be mad at Richard, Emma," Adele had said, "I've long since forgiven him, but I haven't stopped loving him."_

Telling Emma hadn't made it any more real or changed her resolve. Richard would have to fight to be in her life, to keep them married.

Meanwhile, Richard sat upstairs in his office, regretting letting Emma in. "I can't believe you would do that to Adele, Richard! How could you? And even worse, well, maybe not worse, but certainly bad, the woman you were having an affair with left her husband and then you chickened out. It's none of my business, I know, but I can't help but be mad. And I don't know what exactly I'm mad about!" She shook her head and sat down. She was glad she had shut and locked the door behind her but that doesn't mean that someone hadn't heard what she had been yelling.

"It's a good thing I haven't signed anything yet, huh," she said, looking up at him.

"I'm not angry with you," Richard said, calmly. "In fact, I'm glad that Adele will have someone around. I've been a little worried about her. We'll continue this later," he said, "right now I have a contract for you to sign. Let me get Patricia in here."

"Richard, could it wait?"

"Why," he asked, finger poised over the intercom button.

"I was thinking of taking some time off, for me. I thought I might go see Addison. See the sights, here and there. I just need some time to relax before I start here at Seattle Grace."

"If that's what you want," he said, folding his hand in front of him. "How is Adele?"

"Good, pretty good, I think," Emma said. "She's mad at you but I think she's still in love with you." They sat there for a minute, each of them thinking. "Fight for her."

"What?"

"Fight for her, Richard. If you want Adele back, you should fight for her. Whatever she wants, do it."

"If Nigel would come in here and tell you he'd do anything, would you let him," Richard questioned.

"No," Emma answered, "but I haven't had years to forgive him. Adele is a much better person than I am. Anyway, Adele and I are going to go do some shopping. You have my cell if you need me or want to talk." They hugged and Emma left. She was unsure why she was helping Richard. In Adele's shoes, she probably wouldn't have forgiven him. But Adele really was a better person that she was, always caring and helpful. She still loved him and had already forgiven him. Richard was obviously miserable without her. Emma pushed the button for the elevator and waited.

"Hi."

"Hello," Emma said to the doctor beside her. She raised her eyebrow at her. The woman was staring her down.

"Are you the new Cardio Attending?"

"Not that you should know, but yes. Why? Do you have an interest in Cardio?"

"Yes."

Emma stuck out her hand. "Dr. Emma Shepard-Carter."

"Dr. Cristina Yang. Wait, did you say Shepard? As in Derek 'I'm-so-cute-look-at-me-I'm-McDreamy' Shepard?"

"He's my brother," Emma smiled. She liked Dr. Yang already. "Speaking of which, if you see him, tell him Adele and I are going shopping and we'll meet him for lunch." The elevator doors opened. "And if you see Meredith, tell her I'll catch up with her later. Nice meeting you, Dr. Yang."

"Yeah," she said, walking away. Emma shook her head. Seattle was weird.

Mark was preparing for a breast augmentation. The woman was in her mid-twenties, dating a man in his forties, and wanted to give the procedure to his girlfriend as a birthday present. Mark thought it was a waste of time. Hell, he'd been talking to Emma too much again.

He'd been thinking about her too, but only because he was trying to figure out what was going on. He even went as far as to call her mother, who had been so glad to hear from Mark. "No, Mark, dear, I only know that she's left. One of her friends showed up yesterday looking for her when I went to move her spare things to my house. I know as much as you do."

Mrs. Shepard hadn't had much else to say, which was unfortunate, because Mark really needed to figure this out. Maybe he could get into the phonebook on her cell phone and call a friend or two of hers to figure it out. Maybe someone he knew back in New York would know.

Damn it. He had surgery and he couldn't be late. He had phone calls to make during lunch.

The surgery had gone well, but of course he was Mark Sloan, so that wasn't something new. He had to force himself to focus, though; his mind kept drifting off to Emma. He would just have to ask her because he couldn't keep thinking about her.

"Are you okay, Dr. Sloan," Izzie asked, walking into the scrub room. She took off her smock and gloves and started washing her hands.

"Just a bit preoccupied, Stevens," Mark said, leaning against the sink. The blonde doctor nodded.

"Alright, well, I'm going to see the patient to recovery and run the post-op labs. Is that okay with you?"

"Stevens," Mark smirked, "you're a Resident now. You don't need permission. But, yes, that's a good idea." Mark turned back to the sinks and scrubbed out for a second time, forgetting he had already done so once. Izzie was just about to leave when Mark called out, "Oh, Stevens, thanks."

Izzie just nodded, not sure what he was thanking her for and left to do something constructive . . . like running post-op labs.

**Okay, kids, here's another chapter – enjoy. Chapter Five is also written but I won't post that until Chapter Six is done. Let me know what you think and have a good day!**


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE 

George O'Malley stood at the Nurse's Station reading over a chart and trying to be as invisible as possible. Callie would be walking the halls, checking on the interns or something. Someone came up beside him. "George," Lexie Grey said, "are you okay?" George just shook his head and continued to stare at the chart he wasn't really reading. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry about it," George said quietly. "Just, don't, not right now."

Lexie nodded and walked away in search of her resident who seemed to hate her on principle. That tended to happen when you were Lexie Grey and your Resident was your older half-sister's best friend. No, wait, _person_ was the title they used. Lexie shook her head, not understanding, but it didn't matter, her sister didn't want to see her.

"Two," Dr. Yang yelled out coming down the hall, "where are those test results?"

"Right here," Lexie said, quickly handing the file over.

"Hmm, okay," Cristina said. "I need to. . I need. . .I need Bailey. Go find Miranda Bailey immediately. Bring her to the patient's room, I'll meet you there. Go!"

Lexie ran, not even sure where to find Dr. Bailey.

Meanwhile, Cristina went to the nearest linen closet and sat herself down, leaning against the shelf. She couldn't do what needed to be done. Sure there were other Cardio Attendings she could asked, but they were not Preston Burke and he was one of the few surgeons who could pull this bizarre surgery off.

She had remembered reading about it in one of her medical journals. She. . . wait. She ran to her locker and started pulling magazines off the top shelf. She had kept that journal in her locker to read. She found it, it was the last one on the bottom of course, and started flipping through it. Yeah, she thought that's what it was.

Dr. Emma Shepard-Carter had perfected the procedure. Cristina smiled. Now she just had to talk the surgeon into working.

Miranda Bailey met her outside the patient's room. "Dr. Yang, what is so important that you pulled me out of my clinic?"

"I have this patient," Cristina said, first handing the chart over. When Bailey looked up at her, slightly confused, Cristina slid the magazine over top the chart, already opened to the article about the new Attending. "Can we call her?"

"She hasn't started her yet, Yang," Bailey said. "The Chief said she would be starting soon."

"How soon?"

"Soon, Yang, soon. I don't know. Let's go talk to the Chief. Will your patient be okay for at least fifteen minutes?" Cristina nodded and the two of them went to find the Chief.

Adele couldn't remember the last time she had had this much fun. Emma was full of energy today and wanted to hit every store. They went to the salon and got the hair done. Adele had to talk Emma into getting her nails done. "I don't do long nails, Adele, I'm a surgeon, it's pointless."

"At least a manicure," Adele said. "It's fun. Relaxing. Didn't you say you needed relaxing?"

"Relaxing is good," Emma agreed. "Alright, but only paint it if it's a light color. I am a professional, you know." Adele and Emma had a good laugh. Emma's hair was in curlers and the nail artist was on her second coat of pink 'n pearls when her cell phone went off.

"Don't answer that," Adele said warningly.

"It's Derek's cell," Emma said, "maybe he needs to cancel lunch."

"Don't answer that, I'm telling you," she said, "you answer that and you'll never have a moments rest."

"Adele. . ."

"Oh, go ahead," she said, "it's not as if I can actually stop you. All you surgeons are committed to cutting people open and nothing else." Emma smiled and pulled out her phone. "Yeah? Mark? What's up? Is everything alright? Really? Seriously? Yeah, I'm at the salon now. Stop that. Stop saying that. Alright, alright, I'm on my way. How's the patient? Alright, give me about fifteen minutes to get there. I need to get a taxi. He's what? Oh, well, that works. I'll be there shortly." I hung up the phone and turned to the nail artist. "I'm sorry, can we hurry this up? I have to get to the hospital and insert an artificial heart in a man's chest."

Adele sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Adele said. "I'm being selfish. They wouldn't call you in like that if someone else could do it. You'll need to go."

"This is the first time I'm inserting my artificial heart outside of my hospital in New York," Emma said quietly.

"Congratulations," Adele said, not entirely sure that was the correct response.

"Thanks, I think. I don't know what I'm doing, though," Emma said as the hair stylist came over to take the curlers out and put her hair up in an up-do that she could put her scrub cab over.

"I'm looking for Dr. Emma Shepard-Carter," George O'Malley yelled as he walked into the salon. "Oh, hi, Mrs. Webber."

"Hello, Dr. O'Malley," Adele said, "how is your wife?"

"Fine," George said. "Are you Dr. Shepard-Carter," George asked Emma. Emma nodded. "I have my car here as soon as you're ready."

"Have a seat, Dr. O'Malley, it will be a few more minutes." Emma sighed. "Adele," Emma whispered, causing the older woman to lean forward. "This will be the first time that I've done this procedure outside of my hospital and without my surgical team. I've only worked with some of the people in this hospital once, besides Mark and Derek. What if I screw up?"

"You'll be fine," Adele whispered back with a smile. "You're Dr. Emma Shepard-Carter. This is your procedure. I'll come by the hospital later and check on you, I promise." Emma flashed her a brilliant smile seconds after the hair stylist finished.

"Thanks, Adele," Emma leaned in and kissed her cheek. "You're the best. We'll have to skip lunch but let's go out some place for dinner."

"Are you sure," Adele asked, narrowing her eyes playfully at her.

"Uh, good point, I'll call when I can," Emma said. "Alright, Dr. O'Malley, let's go." Emma and George wave, causing Adele to smile. They both jump into George's car, the only one on the other side of the lot, and head to the hospital. "Seriously? I can't believe her?"

"What," George asked her, taking the chance at a red light to look over at her. She was frantically blowing on her fingernails to dry them. He hadn't met Derek Shepard's youngest sister until today, but she reminded him of her brother.

"She's so hypocritical. It's okay for me to run off to perform surgery and stay at the hospital all night but not Richard."

George laughs. "Well, you aren't her husband."

"It's not the point," Emma said, folding her arms and looking out the window. The ride to Seattle Grace was quiet. Yang and Bailey meet her on the surgical floor. "Alright, let's get this thing going. Is there a chart?"

Derek had been trying to call his sister for fifteen minutes when he ran into Mark in the hallway. "What are you doing," Mark asked.

"Looking for Emma," he answered, "we're supposed to have lunch. Have you seen her?"

"Yeah, Shep, she's in OR 3," Mark said, smiling, "check out the gallery." With an absent minded wave, Derek made his way to OR 3 to find the gallery packed.

"What's going on," Derek asked Izzie Stevens, sitting the closest.

"Emma Shepard-Carter is performing _her_ surgery," Izzie said, sounding breathless. A little shocked, Derek stepped closer to the glass, despite protests, and smiled as he watched his sister perform a surgery she perfected with an artificial heart she created. "She's amazing."

"She certainly is," Derek said. "Someone page me when she's done. Dr. Stevens?"

"Of course," the blonde resident replied. Derek looked down once more. He couldn't believe it - his sister, Emma, in his hospital and performing surgery with Dr. Bailey, Dr. Yang, and George O'Malley no less. Did wonders ever cease?

"Big brother, are you checking up on me," Emma's voice came over the intercom.

Derek looked back, asking silently for whoever was closest to the button to push it. One of the interns reached over and pushed the comm button. "Are you okay down there," Derek asked, smiling.

"I'm perfectly fine, Dr. Shepard," Emma said, looking up at her brother.

"Oh, Dr. Shepard, is it," Derek said, biting back his laughter, "what have I done now to gain such a formal title?"

"Nothing in particular," Emma responded. "Could you tell Richard I need to talk to him when I'm done?" Derek nodded. "Good, now either sit down and learn something or go away, you're bothering me."

"Wouldn't want to bother you, that's for sure. I'll see you when you're done." Derek watched his sister nod and get back to her surgery.

"Dr. O'Malley, I need suction over here. Prefect. Someone bring over the artificial heart. It's time to get to the fun part."

"Amazing," Izzie Stevens breathed again. Derek smiled once more and left the gallery in search of Richard. He found him in his office, with Adele.

"Good afternoon," Derek said, leaning against the doorway.

"Oh, hello, Derek," Adele says, waving him in.

"Adele, we were . . . never mind," Richard stammered.

Derek leaned in a kissed Adele on the cheek in greeting before sitting down. "So, Emma would like to see you when she's done with the surgery, Chief," Derek said, crossing his legs.

"How's the surgery going, Derek," Adele asked, "she was worried."

"She's seems fine. We bantered. A good time was had be all parties involved. How are you two?"

"Fine," Richard said, flipping through some papers on his desk. "Is there anything else you needed?"

"Not at the moment," Derek responded, "but give me time."

"Shep, I have a lot of things to do before I leave for dinner tonight," Richard said, picking up his phone. "I'll see you tomorrow and tell Emma that I'll find her before I leave."

Derek left the Chief's office, Adele following behind him. "So, you're giving him a chance," Derek inquired.

Adele nodded. "It's something that Emma said last night," Adele explained. "I love the old fool, I do, but I refuse to play second fiddle to this hospital anymore. We are either in this thing or we aren't."

"Good luck," Derek said, flashing his McDreamy smile.

"Thank you, Derek," Adele said, "I'll see you later."

"Of course," Derek said, kissing Adele's cheek once more before going to the cafeteria to find something to eat – he was starving. He found Mark in the cafeteria, pushing the food on his plate around.

"Who eats this garbage?"

"Everyone but you, Mark."

Mark nodded and dropped his fork before pushing the plate away. "I've actually had worse. So, did you peek in on Emma's surgery?"

"I did," Derek replied, "she's seemed to have capture the heart of everyone here."

"Didn't take her long," Mark commented, taking a sip of water. "If Emma isn't going back to New York," Mark asked, "where is Maddison?"

"I have no idea," Derek answered, picking up his pager, "but I intend to find out. I can't believe I didn't even ask about my niece."

"Our niece," Mark corrected. "I haven't seen her since I left New York."

"Me either," Derek sighed.

**I was watching Season One again when I was trying to come up with some more idea for the story and came across the episode where he tells Meredith a little about himself before Addison shows up. He told her he had four sister, nine nieces, and five nephews. So, I figured, Emma would have to have at least one child. Here she is! We'll talk more about her later. **

**Thanks for reading,**

**M. Nichole**


	6. Chapter 6

I'm working on Chapter Ten right now so I thought I'd post Chapter Six. I'm glad that people have been enjoying my story. I've become partial to Emma, myself, and am planning a series using her with Shonda's Grey's Anatomy characters. Enjoy! Chapter Six 

Richard met her in the scrub room outside of OR 3 as she finished. "What did you need Emma?"

"I'm leaving in the morning to go see Addison for a while," Emma said, grabbing a sponge and turning the water on. "I wanted to inform you that I wouldn't be in town for at least a week. I called Adds last night and she's expecting me. I'm going to see what's so special about a small town practice in the big, bad city."

"Emma," Richard protested.

She cut him off. "Richard, I need this. I need time to do nothing. Do you hear me, Richard? Nothing." Emma scrubbed her hands and used her elbow to turn the water off, gesturing for Richard to hand her some paper towels. "Thank you."

"Your welcome," he said. "Emma, I don't have a Cardio Attending at all."

"Why not? You never replaced your last guy at all?"

"No," Richard said, "I still have his star pupil – Cristina Yang."

"She is very talented," Emma complimented. "She'll do very well with the right guidance this early in her career."

"And that's you," Richard protested.

"I never said it wasn't," Emma said, throwing the paper towels away. "I just need some time to relax before I begin a new job."

"Where's Maddison," Richard asked, leaning on the sink beside her.

"With Mom."

"Will Nigel try to get custody?"

"Maddison isn't Nigel's, Richard, you know that and thank Heaven I never pushed him to adopt her or he could try to take her from me," Emma said, looking down.

"That's right," Richard said, "her father was a cop. He died in the line of duty, didn't he?"

Emma nodded. "Before he even knew I was pregnant," she said. "Then Maddison was born and I was working at the hospital and I started running into Nigel at the bar across the street. It's not as if I was of legal drinking age at the time, mind you, but the cops never bothered with me. It's not as if I was drinking." Richard nodded, remembering some of what she told him. "Nigel was just there. He was so great when we were dating and he adored Maddison. Derek and Mark didn't like him, but I figured they were just being over protective."

"I never met Nigel," Richard mused.

"Let's hope you never do." They two stood in silence for a few moments. "Listen, you should be able to cover Cardio while I'm gone. I should only be gone a week. Have you seen Adele today?"

Richard blinked at the sudden change of subject. "Yes, actually, she is waiting in my office right now. Apparently she's talked to Derek who has all your stuff."

Emma nodded. "That's fine," she said, "maybe he can take me to the airport. I don't feel like driving."

"Is Maddison eventually going to be here, with you?"

"Yes," Emma said, "as soon as I find some place permanent."

Richard liked the thought of permanent – permanent was good. He quickly kissed Emma's forehead and said good night. "Have a good trip and make sure you come back," he said. "If you pull an Addison I'll be forced to come after you."

Emma chuckled. "I promise I'll be back. I have to go find Derek," she said, "the surgery took a lot longer than I thought. It went well, though, Mr. Donavan should recover fully. I have Yang keeping an eye on him."

"You did well, Emma," Richard said, "now I really ought to get going."

"You behave yourself tonight and stay away from this hospital," Emma called out after him, shaking her head. The man couldn't breathe away from his hospital. She couldn't help but send up a quick prayer to the powers that be that she never got like that. But she had made a decision, she didn't want the power of a high-ranking position or the responsibility that it came with. Maddison would be in Seattle with her in a couple of weeks, if not sooner, and she needed to make sure her daughter would be all right. Emma glanced at her watch. Well, well, if it wasn't time to track down Uncle Derek and Uncle Mark.

She found them in Derek's office. Emma smiled from outside the door, looking in through the small window, as she saw them joking around. Mark saw her first and waved her in. "How was the surgery," he asked.

"Oh, fine," Emma said, kissing them both hello. "How are my two favorite men?"

Derek chuckled as Mark kissed her cheek back before pulling her into his lap. "Hey, now," Derek chastised, "none of that." He stuffed a few files into his brief case. "Is everyone done for the night? We could go to Joe's again."

"Is that all you guys do," Emma asked, trying to squirm out of Mark's hold. "Save lives and drink?"

"And have sex," Mark added, nodded.

"Oh, gross," she said, jumping out of his lap. "And, that's way, _way_, too much information, Mark." Both men chuckled, standing up as well.

"Adele had a few interns put your bags in my car," Derek said, throwing the strap of his bag over his shoulder. "I'm going to Meredith's tonight so you can have the trailer to yourself or you can stay with Mark."

"Whichever," Emma said. "I have no idea where my purse is at."

"Your locker, in the Attending locker room," Mark said. "C'mon, we'll go get it." Mark led her out of Derek's office as her brother's phone rang. "I bet that's Grey," Mark said, "they'll be talking for a while." They went into the locker room and Mark showed her the locker he stored her stuff in. "I found an Intern holding it and looking lost," Mark explained, "so I figured I'd help out."

"That's just so nice of you," Emma said. "What was the Intern's name?"

"Huh?"

"The intern, Mark. What was the Intern's name?"

"I don't know," Mark said, raising an eyebrow at her. "Why do you care?"

"The question is: why don't _you_ care," Emma said, grabbing her jeans and t-shirt and changing while Mark leaned against nearby lockers. "You realize that Richard runs a teaching hospital therefore you must _teach_." Mark held his hand out for her dirty, black guest scrubs, which he threw in the laundry for her as she shoved her feet in her shoes. "I should shower but I so do not care." She grabbed a hair band from her purse and pulled her hair back into a sloppy bun on top of her head. "Let's go eat," she said, "I'm starving."

"Are you coming to the hotel with me," Mark asked, grabbing her duffel-bag like purse from her. Emma shrugged. "Oh, c'mon, Emma, please."

"Okay," Emma said, smiling. "Let's get out of this hospital. Where'd Derek go?" They stood in front of the locker room in the hall. The door, down the hall, opened. Derek came out of his office, smiling like the cat that caught the canary.

"We're all going to Meredith's tonight," he said, closing his phone. Derek frowned as his sister and renewed best friend stared at him. "What's wrong?"

"We're all going to Meredith's tonight," Emma repeated. Derek nodded. "What would we do?"

"Her roommates, Izzie and Alex, both have the night off too so we're going to be watching movies or something. Izzie made cake," Derek added as if that was incentive enough. "C'mon, Meredith is really trying here. It would be nice if you two were supportive."

"Just as long as someone can take me to the airport tomorrow morning, I don't care where I sleep," Emma said. "Let's go." They took Derek's car to Meredith's where they had pizza waiting for them. "Hello, Meredith," Emma greeted her with a half-hug, "how was your day off?"

"Pretty productive actually," Meredith said, "I'm trying bright and shiny again."

"Please, God, no," Yang said coming out of the kitchen. "Not that again!"

"Hello, Yang," Emma greeted, smiling. "Did you enjoy the surgery today?"

"That was awesome," Yang said, throwing her head back and drinking half of her beer. "The interns are watching over him."

"You live here, too," Emma questioned, watching as her brother and Meredith snuck upstairs.

"I have my own place," Yang explained, "but I spend most of my time here since Burke left."

"Burke? You wouldn't happen to be talking about Preston Burke, would you?"

"Yes," Yang said, clearly confused. "Why? You haven't seen him, have you? He won't return my calls and I was . . . kind of hoping to talk to him."

"Oh, well, next time I see him, I'll let him know," Emma said. "We just did a quadruple by-pass together in Connecticut when I went to see Nancy."

"I miss Nancy," Mark said, out of the blue.

"I'm sure you do," Emma said, "now where's that pizza?" Yang led Emma into the kitchen, both of them talking about the quadruple by-pass when they entered.

"We aren't talking about work tonight," a tall, blonde said loudly. "Both of you knock it off. Quit being a doctor for a couple of hours, it'll add years on to your life." The man sitting at the counter smirked, taking a sip of his beer. Emma raised an eyebrow in the blonde's direction.

"Izzie," Yang hissed, "don't embarrass me in front of Dr. Carter."

"Shepard-Carter," Emma and Mark both corrected the pissed off doctor.

"Whatever, Cristina," Izzie mumbled. "I'm sorry if I was rude," Izzie said, coming around the counter to shake Emma's hand. "I'm Izzie Stevens. I work at the hospital with Cristina and everyone else."

"Everyone that lives here is a doctor," Emma questioned.

"It's the house of doctors," the man at the counter said, turning towards the group. "Karev. Dr. Alex Karev," the man introduced himself, holding out his hand. Emma shook it quickly.

"Dr. Emma Shepard-Carter," she greeted, narrowing her eyes as she assessed him. _Ass_, she decided without hesitation, _but a cute one_. _Damn, that's not good_. Emma stepped back, bumping into Mark.

"Don't tell me," Alex said, "you're the Cardio goddess everyone is talking about."

"Goddess," Emma repeated, "I like that. Yes, I suppose I am."

"You've always been a goddess," Mark whispered.

"Oh, knock it off, do you know how gross that is," Emma whispered back. "So," she said, addressing the room, "how long have you guys known Meredith."

"Since day one," Cristina answered, "why?"

"I only know what Derek and Mark have told me," she confessed, before adding, "and Addison. I just met her the other day and, well, my brother seems crazy about her. I just wanted to know about her until the two of us can get used enough to each other to talk ourselves. But if you don't want to, that's fine."

"Meredith is great," Izzie answered, pulling plates out of the cupboard from the pizza, "she's a good friend." Cristina nodded in agreement.

"She's pretty good when you have a problem," Cristina added, "although she's usually the one with the problem." Emma smiled.

"Don't worry so much," Mark said, "it'll be fine. They made it through Derek being married, right? They'll make it."

"Thank you for the optimism, Mark, it's very much appreciated," Derek said, his arm around Meredith's waist.

"Alright, pizza, beer, and movies," Meredith said.

"What are we watching," Emma asked, handing a plate to Mark.

"We could watch Meredith's Mom's movies," Cristina said suddenly.

"What," Emma asked.

"Yeah, what," Meredith asked, glaring at her friend.

"You have all those tapes of your mother's surgeries," Cristina explained, glaring at Meredith.

"Who's your mother, Meredith," Emma asked.

"My mother was Ellis Grey."

"I was sorry to hear about Dr. Grey," Emma said, nodding, "she was an excellent surgeon."

"She'd been sick for a while," Meredith explained, unsure why she would volunteer such information. "I'm sure it was a kind of relief to her."

"I could only imagine," Emma said. "It's up to you, though, you're the hostess."

"I don't see what it can hurt," Meredith said, smiling a little.

"No work tonight," Izzie said, throwing a towel down on the counter. "Find something else to watch."

"Um, I think I have the new Dane Cook movie," Cristina said. "Does anyone want to watch that?"

It was unanimous.

**The chapters seem to be coming along easier at the moment. I do have the next few written and some other ones plotted out. It should be exciting. Let me know what you think. Until next time. . .**

**By the way, there were a few people who asked about the couples:**

**Meredith/Derek**

**Mark/Izzie**

**Addison/Pete (if it gets to that, because Addison is coming up and will make another appearance, too)**

**Emma/someone from Emma's past (you have to wait a couple of chapters)**

**Nothing else is set in stone. **

**Happy Reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Alarm clocks started going off early. Izzie and Alex had to be at work early. Meredith, Cristina, and Mark didn't have to be in until a little later and Derek actually had a day off. "That's no fun," he was saying as Emma packed her things back up. "You're leaving on my day off," he pouted.

"Oh, stop it, Derek. Go fishing after your drop me off," she told him, "or go for a run. Get a hobby. Or a dog. Dogs are good."

"I don't want another dog," Derek said. He glanced over at Meredith, who smiled back sadly.

"What are you guys doing up so early, anyway," Izzie asked, sipping from a giant mug of coffee, as she came out of the kitchen. "Alex, if you're driving in with me, let's go!"

"O'Malley is in the bathroom," Alex said, coming down the stairs. "He says to wait for him."

"George O'Malley was here last night," Emma asked, pausing in her rush to shove her belongings back in her bag. "What was he doing here?"

"He's sort of moving back in," Izzie explained. "We haven't seen him much since he had to start over his intern year." Izzie's free hand rushed to her face in an effort to stop her from saying anything. "You didn't hear that from me," she mumbled through her own hand. Emma raised an inquiring eyebrow at her brother before turning back to her bag.

Everyone but Stevens, Karev, and O'Malley went to breakfast, making everyone late for surgery and causing Emma to almost miss her flight. "Callie O'Malley is going to be so pissed off at us," Meredith said as they all rushed to leave in Mark's vehicle.

"Callie O'Malley? Seriously," Emma asked.

"Seriously," Cristina said, "George married her."

"Woah. For a second there, I thought her parents' named her that," Emma said. "I'll be back in a week or so, though, don't miss me too much." Mark gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped into his SUV.

"Yeah, well, forget about Mrs. Dr. O'Malley and be scared of Bailey," he said, "let's go." Derek and Emma waved them off and hurried to the airport.

"Are you sure you have to leave now," Derek said, "you just got here."

"It's only for a week, big brother, and then I'll be back. I just need to see Addison for a bit and relax," she said, sticking her tongue out at him to ease the tension. He chuckled before pulling her in for a hug. "Don't got all mushy on me, Derek, save it for Meredith who actually wants it."

"You think?"

"Did you ever doubt it?"

"Well," he said, slowly, "yes, I have. She has issues."

"As do you," Emma pointed out, "just don't let her go while I'm gone. I have enough to fix without added problems. Keep an eye on Richard, too. I'll see you all soon." Another quick hug and Emma rushed off to board her plane. The flight wasn't that long, so Emma snoozed for a little bit until about half way through when she woke up and read for a while. Yes, relaxing was good.

Meredith Grey was running late and swearing under her breath as she rushed around the Resident's locker room before collecting her interns, waiting patiently under the watchful eye of George O'Malley. "Good morning, everyone. George. We've been assigned to a great patient today. Let's get going."

They did their rounds quickly, they only had a few, before ending up in Mr. Edmund Richardson's room. "Who's presenting?"

George cleared his throat. "Edmund Richardson, 68. Presented last night with shortness of breath and blurred vision. Patient has a history of heart attack and stroke. CT showed an abnormal mass which was confirmed by an MRI."

"Very good, Dr. O'Malley. Suggestions?"

"Blood work. Another MRI and CT. Also a Neuro consult."

"Alright, let's get it done," Meredith said. She really didn't like having interns, although having George around made it easier. Being around Derek wasn't always easy, either, although he's been trying to be patient with her. Miranda Bailey was proving to be a great ally for her previous interns against Callie O'Malley, Chief Resident. She seemed to have it out for Bailey and her old interns, which didn't always include George. Meredith sighed as Cristina came over to lean against the nurse's station with her.

"I hate interns," Cristina said. "They don't listen." Meredith chuckled, smiling at her Person. "I'm serious, Meredith, they just don't get it."

"You don't even call them by their names, Cristina," she said. "You would have been offended had Bailey done that to us."

"Bailey is the Nazi, though," Cristina told her, as if she didn't know. "We're lucky she bothered to learn our names."

Meredith shook her head and whispered, "She's only mean to the people she doesn't like. You know that."

"I heard that, you two," Miranda Bailey said, coming up behind the two of them. "And don't you tell a soul," she whispered, "I have a reputation to uphold." Both nodded, hiding small, amused smiles and watched as Bailey walked down the hall.

Meredith's cell phone buzzed. Damn, it was Derek and Meredith wasn't really interested in talking to him at the moment.

LA proved to be much warmer than Seattle, which was to be expected, but the whole place was too bright for Emma's taste. Even New York didn't get that bad. Emma squealed uncharacteristically when she saw her former sister-in-law waiting for her at baggage claim. "Oh, Addison, I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Emma," Addison said, hugging her tightly. "How's everyone in New York? And in Seattle?'

"Fine," Emma smiled, pulling away from Addison a little.

"And you?"

"You talked to Mom?"

"Yes," Addison said, pulling her in closer. "I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear about it. It's terrible. Just let him set foot in LA, though. I have connections here." Emma chuckled. She had so many over-protective people in her life and she wouldn't have it any other way. "Well, it's getting late. Let's go back to my place, freshen up, and meet up with Naomi and Violet."

"Violet?"

"The shrink where I work," Addison explained. "You'll like her I think. Let's go." They climbed into Addy's car and drove to her beach house. "What do you think? Your room is over to the right there. The kitchen is through that door. Oh, your room has it's own bathroom, too."

"Addison, this is fantastic," Emma exclaimed with a smile. It was fake enthusiasm though. She needed to talk to Addison alone, but there was no time before their little dinner with her friends. "I just need to wash up. I'll be out in a few minutes." Ten minutes later, Emma was dressed to the nines as was Addison. They hopped back into Addy's car and drove to the restaurant where Naomi and Violet where already seated. "Naomi, it's so good to see you," Emma said, hugging her family's old friend.

"Good to see you, too, sweetie," Naomi said. "How are you doing?"

"I got a call from the lawyer during the flight," Emma said, "Nigel's signed so we're just waiting to get it processed."

"You're getting a divorce," the woman that must be Violet asked. "I'm so sorry."

Naomi started laughing.

"What," Violet asked.

"The three of us our divorced and she's about to join us," Naomi said. "I'm sorry, it's just ironic."

"Yeah," Emma said, "I need a _strong_ drink, but I'm sure it's not a good idea."

"I second that," Addison agreed. "I'm having a strong drink, though. I'll even buy the first round. Oh, barkeep." The four women had a good time, sharing stories and catching up. "I'm so glad that I don't have to work tomorrow," Addison proclaimed, leaning back in her chair. "So, your Mom tells me she has Maddison." Emma nodded. "Is she moving to Seattle with you?"

"Of course," Emma said. "Who else would take her? She's not Nigel's. Her father is Riggs. Since he's long since passed and his parents' only ask for a few days now and then, I think she'd have to come move in with me."

"I'm sorry, Emma," Addison said, "it's just. . . I wasn't sure. I don't know what you have planned."

"I don't have a plan, Addy," Emma said. "I needed to get out of New York. I thought of Derek, took Maddy to mom, went to the lawyer's office, and hopped a flight. I have no plans except to live in Seattle for a long while."

"I don't think I could handle all that rain," Violet told them, sipping her drink.

"You get used to it," Addison and Emma both said causing them both to laugh.

"At least that's what Mark told me," Emma added. "Anyway, I'm beat."

"Of course," Addison said, draining her drink. "Let's go home. Naomi, I'll see you later. Bye, Violet." Goodbyes were exchanged before they left. "What's wrong, Emma," Addison asked as she drove them back to her house. "You've been sulking all night."

"Yeah," Emma said, looking out the window. Addison said nothing as she drove, trying to figure out what was wrong. They made it back fairly quickly and when Addison suggested desert on the back desk, Emma did not object. "Addison," Emma asked after they sat down.

"Yeah, Emma?" 

"We've talked about why you cheated on Derek," Emma said, "and I get it. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I get it. What we haven't talked about is why you fought so hard for him even after we both agreed that you'd been over for a long time."

Addison was slightly taken aback. She knew that Emma was having a hard time dealing with the Nigel situation. When she forced herself to think about it, Emma's and Derek's respective situations bore striking similarities. At least Emma didn't have to find Nigel in bed with her best friend. "It was instinct, I think," Addison said after she had gotten over the shock of the question. "I still loved Derek and I still do, but not in the same way." Emma nodded. "When Richard asked me to come to Seattle for a consult, I jumped on the chance, leaving Mark in New York. You know all this. Um . . . I thought I could make Derek forgive me. Maybe he has in some twisted way; I think we're friends at least. You aren't thinking about going back to Nigel, are you?"

"No," Emma said quietly, playing with her fork. "I just wanted to know why you had done what you had done, that's all."

"_You_ aren't still mad at me, are you?"

"Of course, not, Addy," Emma said, surprised at Addison's question. "I just have a lot of thinking to do before I can have Maddison in Seattle and I start working at Seattle Grace."

"I heard you implanted your heart the other day."

"Good news travels fast, right," Emma said, leaning back in her chair. "It's great here, Addison, with the beach, the surf, and the salty air. This, Addison, is heaven." Addison smiled at her ex-sister-in-law – more importantly, she smiled at her friend. "Except for the sun, of course."

"Of course," Addison agreed. "You really weren't tired at the restaurant, were you?"

"No," Emma admitted with a smile. "But I'm exhausted now. I'm going to wash up and go to bed." She jumped up and kissed Addison's cheek before gathering her plate and glass.

"I'll get it, Emma," Addison said. "Are you coming in tomorrow with me or are you sleeping in?"

"I think I'll come see your new work digs," Emma said, laughing. "Oceanside Wellness Clinic indeed."

"Hey, Naomi and Sam did a great job," Addison said, standing up as well with a smile on her face. "You'll love it. Maybe I'll even convince you to stay."

"Why? So I can do crazy MacGyver surgery without anesthesia? No thank you. Good night, Addison," Emma said, going back into the house.

"Good night, Emma," Addison called back. "Rest easy," she whispered, "Nigel won't be bothering you anytime soon." She grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and dialed. "Yeah, Mark? It's Addison. No, I'm fine. Listen, what exactly is wrong with Emma?"

**So **_**I**_ **think the story is coming together rather well. I just finished chapter ten this morning so I've posted chapter seven (duh, you just read it). Anyway, I really, **_**really**_ **like chapter ten. I can't wait for you to read it. Except another update this weekend. Also, I know that it'll say five years or four years through the story (somewhere) but Nigel and Emma were only actually married for three. I know with Emma being so young and an Attending already that it gets confusing. I'm pretty sure it can't actually happen, but that's the magic of fanfiction.**

**Right?**

**M. Nichole**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Addison hadn't slept well after getting off the phone with Mark. He had come up with his own theories but nothing concrete. "She seems off to me," Mark has said, "like she's lost and just floating along." Since when did Mark Sloan become the voice of concern? No matter, Addison just knew she had to figure out what was wrong before Emma left.

They had breakfast at a café near the Wellness Center and met up with Naomi in her office. "It's not a big place," Naomi explained, "but it works for us. It's essentially six small practices in one. Sometimes we only have one patient a day." Emma was actually intrigued by the concept and even offered to help the receptionist who had to study for his midwifery class. "That's not necessary," Naomi said. "Besides, you're on vacation. The beach is right down there," she said, pointing out the window, "have a little fun for the rest of us."

Emma got directions to the nearest gift shop and bought a couple of books, a towel, a chair, an umbrella, and some sun block. "Alright, I'll be just down the beach but call my cell phone if anyone wants anything."

"How about lunch later," Addison suggested. Emma agreed and went off trotting off in the sand. "I'm worried about her, Naomi."

Naomi nodded as they watched the young woman march off with her head held high. "Maybe we should one some tests on her later," Naomi suggested.

"What are we testing her for? It's not like a blood test will tell us if she's clinicly depressed or not," Addison said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Calm down, Addy," Naomi said, placing a calming hand on her friend's shoulder. "Is that what Dr. Sloan thinks?" 

"No," Addison admitted, "and he's a plastic surgeon, so what does he know?"

"I'm sure Dr. Sloan is very intelligent," Naomi said. "He was smart enough to go after you, if only for a little while," she whispered before leaving Addison alone to think.

Meanwhile, Emma was enjoying the beach, although she wasn't that fond of the sun. It was a good thing she bought a giant umbrella. She'd have to leave it here, though, what use what a giant beach umbrella do in rainy Seattle. Emma laughed at the thought before picking up her book and leaning back in her chair for a relaxing morning. Her cell phone rang a couple of times during the morning, but Emma let them all go to voicemail until Addison called. "Hello?"

"Hey, we're about to step out for lunch," she said, "do you want to join us?"

"Of course," Emma said, "give me a few minutes to pack everything up." Five minutes later she was stepping into the elevator.

"Hold the elevator," a voice called out. Emma stepped forward and stuck her foot out, causing the doors to bounce back. "Thanks," a handsome man said with a smile as he pushed the already lit third button floor. "Oh, are you heading to the third floor, too?"

"Yes, I'm here visiting a friend," Emma said. "We're going to lunch." The man nodded and leaned against the wall. The elevator doors opened, revealing Addison and Naomi. "Hey," Emma said, stepping off the elevator.

"Good afternoon, ladies," the handsome man said, smiling once more. Emma watched as Addison slowly started turning red with a muttered, "Hello, Pete." Emma smiled. "Have a good lunch," he said, turning towards Emma, his smile turning into a smirk. Emma smile grew bigger as she smiled back.

"Alright, let's get going," Emma said, pulling both onto the elevator, chuckling.

All in all, Emma had a pretty good week. It was especially entertaining to pick on Addison about Pete when Naomi wasn't around. She made her daily calls to Derek, and her mother, and Maddison, the last of which insisted on her _own_ phone call causing Emma to hang up with her mother and call back.

"Uncle Derek says we're coming to visit him," Maddison said, two nights before Emma was to return to Seattle. "Next week."

"Yes," Emma agreed, "that seems to be the plan. Have you been good for Grandmamma?"

"Yes," she said. "I miss you." This, of course, broke Emma's heart and caused her guilt to wash over her. She started apologizing; telling her daughter that she would see her soon and they'd be staying with Uncle Derek. "Grandmamma says we're going to live with Uncle Derek."

"Would you like that," Emma asked.

"I love Uncle Derek," Maddison exclaimed. "Will Uncle Mark be there?"

"Yes," Emma said, smiling at Addison who sat beside her, "Uncle Mark will be around."

"And Aunt Addy?"

"Um, well, we'll visit Aunt Addy real soon. I'm with her now, in fact, would you like to talk to her?" Emma handed the phone off and raced to the bathroom to wash her face free of her tears. When she looked up, Addison stood in the doorway.

"It's okay, Emma," she said, walking closer and pulling her in for a hug. "It's alright. Everything is fine." Emma was sick of crying, although no one else knew she had been spending her time alone crying. She was crying so much she was sick and throwing up. She told Addison about it – the crying, the sickness, and the vomiting. "Emma, I need you to remember back for me," Addison said. "I know that your irregular, but when did you last have sex?"

"Four weeks ago," Emma said, sobbing now, "the last time Nigel was in New York."

"Okay," Addison said. "You're fine, Emma. Alright? We're going to put you in bed and I'm going to run some tests in the morning. So, c'mon, up you get. That's right." Addison helped her back into the guest bedroom. "Are you going to be okay by yourself or do you want me to stay with you?"

"You should stay," Emma said, sniffling. "I feel like crap."

"Yes, that happens, or so I'm told."

"You think I'm pregnant," Emma stated, rather than asked.

"I think it's a possibility," Addison said, "you were like this the last time, too." Emma nodded. "It might be too early to tell, though, so don't get your hopes up."

"I don't want to have a baby with Nigel," Emma said, pressing her face into her pillow. "I _hate_ Nigel."

"I know, sweetheart," Addison said, rubbing her back, "but we'll deal with that when we get there. Alright?"

"Oh, Addison, I'm so sorry," Emma said, sitting up and wiping her tears away. "This must be hard for you because. . .well, you know."

"Yes, I'm an old, barren adulteress," Addison said, smiling. "Everything will be alright," she said, "I'll just spoil your kids rotten."

"I'll hold you to that," Emma told her. "And you'll always be my sister, Addison, always."

"And I'll hold you to that," Addison said. "Let's get some sleep. My bed is bigger, Emma, let's go sleep there." Emma grabbed her pillow and climbed into the bigger bed down the hall while Addison went around and locked up the house. Addison thought about calling Mark or Derek but decided to wait until she knew for sure. Turning the hallway lights off, Addison climbed into bed beside her ex-sister-in-law and newly dubbed sister in spirit and fell asleep.

Derek hung up his phone and handed the chart he had been holding to a nurse. Emma was doing well, or so she said, and Mom was coming to Seattle much sooner than planned. Like days instead of weeks. Emma found out about it and talked him into finding a house, either to buy or rent, that would comfortably house Emma, Maddison, and Derek – at the very least. So, he had called his Real Estate agent, the one who sold him the property he lived on now, who would meet him in two hours at the hospital.

"Hey, Shep, I got your page," Mark said, walking over. "What's going on?"

"Emma's buying a house," Derek said, stuffing his phone in his pocket. "I guess I'm moving in and she wants to know if you want to get out of that hotel."

"Why does she want me to move in," Mark asked, confused.

"Because, apparently, you're her brother," Derek said, "remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Mark said, leaning with his back against the Nurse's Station.

"Good morning, Dr. Sloan," a nurse said, smiling as she walked by. "Dr. Shepard."

"Aren't you popular this morning," Meredith said, coming from the opposite direction. "Do you have any plans tonight?"

"House shopping," Derek said.

"Derek," Meredith stuttered, "I know that you practically live in my house but I don't think I'm ready to. . ."

Mark laughed.

"Don't worry, Meredith, it isn't as serious as all that," he said. "Emma wants some place permanent for when her daughter gets here."

"Emma's pregnant?"

"No," both men said, vehemently.

"What are you talking about," Izzie Stevens asked, walking up.

"I have no idea," Meredith said. "What _are_ you two talking about?"

"Emma just wants a house," Mark said. "It has to have enough for room for Emma, Maddison, Derek, and myself."

"Yeah," Derek said. "Alright, I'll let the real estate agent know." He smiled at Meredith and walked away, causing Meredith to sigh and follow him to find out what was going on.

"You know, I'm sure they'll be plenty of room, Stevens," Mark said, "if you were interested too."

"I have a place to stay," Izzie said. "I live at Meredith's with her and Alex."

"Karev? I just feel sorry for you then," Mark said. "Well, Stevens, I have a surgery to get to. Why don't you join me?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes, I'll need something pretty to look at why the patient is bleeding all over the place," Mark said. "Get a grip, Stevens, you're a resident now. You'll do fine. Send one of your interns to get us cappuccinos."

"Alright, so your test results came back," Addison said, coming into her office where Emma was checking her email. She bit her bottom lip before handing them over.

"What's that look for," Emma asked, accepting the paperwork. Emma flipped through it. "Well, hell, that sucks," Emma said. "I guess I won't be able to kick Nigel out of my life after all."

"I'm sure he can be grown up about it," Addison said. "Or maybe," she added, cautiously, "he won't want anything to do with the baby."

"How can you tell when I'm only four weeks pregnant?"

"Your seven weeks, actually," Addison said, sitting down behind her desk.

"Yeah, I remember now, on his way to Malaysia," Emma said. "That's when he mentioned he might not be back in New York in time for our fifth anniversary." Emma leaned back in her chair. "Do I have to tell him?"

"Well, ethically, you should," Addison said, "but it's up to you. He probably wouldn't be a good father anyway."

_Damn_, Emma thought. _Addison would have to think of it like that. Of course, now I'm just thinking about Mark and how excited he was about the baby with Addison before her abortion. Damn. _DAMN!_ I'll have to tell him._

"Alright, I'll tell him, but I'm fighting like Hell for full custody," Emma said. "I should call the lawyer."

"You going to have to stay calm, though, Emma," Addison cautioned. "I don't want to scare you, but you know that most miscarriages happen in the first trimester," she said, peering at her over her glasses, "maybe it would be best not to say anything. . .to anyone."

"Maybe," Emma said. "So, have you talked to Pete lately?"

"Not since we walked in this morning," Addison said, "go answer your email. We'll go out tonight and you'll stick to water. I want you to remember absolutely no alcohol and as little stress as possible for the rest of your pregnancy. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before.."

"You know, I am a doctor," Emma said, "and I've gone through this once before. So, you are going to come up to Seattle the week I'm due and deliver this baby, right?"

"I can try," Addison said. "I'll recommend a doctor in Seattle who can do your exams until then, though."

"Or, I can use the next couple exams as excuses to come see you," Emma said, "you can't get rid of me that easily and it's just until I can't fly anymore."

"Fine, I'll make arrangements," Addison conceded. "We'll go to lunch soon; I just have one more patient."

**So I plan on going back through the chapters and fixing a few things as I go and I'll let you know when I do. The next chapter is good but I still really like chapter ten. I'm writing as fast as I can and I know that I'm ahead of what your reading, but I like to try and make the story has continuity. **

**M. Nichole**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Alright, here's chapter nine. I hope you like it. I just finished Chapter Twelve this afternoon, so maybe I'll post Chapter Ten if I start Chapter Thirteen tonight. Did that make any sense? I hope so. . .enjoy!**

**CHAPTER NINE**

The rest of the week with Addison had gone well. They even went and bought a few neutral baby things that they were keeping at Addison's until later. After a dinner with Naomi, Sam, Violet, Cooper, and Peter, Addison and Emma had gone to the beach by her house and made fools of themselves playing in the surf under the moon.

After some morning sickness and a light breakfast, Emma boarded her plane, and sighed. She would miss Addy. It was a shame she had left Seattle. She was happy in LA, though, and that made a big difference – to Emma at least. She pulled the new book she bought out of her purse and started reading before falling asleep until just before they were preparing to land.

She got a text message from Derek: _Meeting you at baggage. Have appt to see house. Mark says hi._ Emma chuckled. She knew Derek had been the one to call. She held her breath when they descended, though, because she was feeling nauseous. She quickly sent up a prayer to the powers that be the she wouldn't get sick in front of anyone until she was ready to tell them. Wanting to see Derek, Mark, and everyone else again, Emma jumped up and rushed off the plane, nearly tripping when she walked into the hallway leading to the airport. She quickly made her way to baggage and jumped into her brother's awaiting arms.

"I'm so glad to see you," Emma whispered.

"I'm glad to see you too," Derek whispered back, "are you okay?" Emma nodded, sniffling a little. She didn't want to cry, but it wasn't working.

"Where's my hug," Mark pretended to pout. Emma rolled her eyes and hugged her fake big brother. "Glad to have you back, Lil' Shep," he said, "I was starting to think it wouldn't ever be the same without."

"Well, it wouldn't," Emma playfully chastised, "you should know that." Mark just nodded, letting her go.

"Richard asked me to ask you if you're ready to work tomorrow," Derek said, grabbing her bag off the conveyer belt. "Emma, what did you do – buy half of LA?"

"Yeah, probably," Emma said. "Tell Richard I'll have Mark pass him a note in study hall. Couldn't he just call me or something?"

"You can ask him later," Mark said, taking her carryon from her. "We both have patients to check on after we look at the house. We've been looking all week and have it narrowed down to this house and another one. We think you'll like this one, though."

"You're moving in," Emma asked Mark, the both of them following Derek.

"Yeah, I figured someone would have to pay attention to Maddison," Mark said. Emma punched his shoulder. "Hey, I was only joking," he said, rubbing his shoulder with his free hand.

"Yeah, well, I have a headache," Emma said. "Let's go look at this house." They piled into Mark's SUV and drove out. The three story house wasn't far from the hospital. It was a red brick house with a wrap around porch just outside of the city limits. It actually wasn't that far from Derek's trailer, either. "It's beautiful."

"You haven't even been inside yet, let me show you," Mark said, taking her hand. Derek smiled at the sight of them two of them, worried about how Emma would react tomorrow when she went to the hospital. If she knew he was in Seattle . . . it wouldn't be pretty, that was for sure.

"This is fantastic," Derek heard his sister yell. "Derek! Derek, have you seen this? I can't believe it! Tell me you like it," she said, running down the stairs. "Tell me you want to live here and that this place isn't ridiculously expensive."

"Not that it would matter that it was expensive," Derek said, "the three of us make a hell of a lot of money. And, yes, I like this place - especially if you like it. And the trailer isn't far away. I could take Maddison fishing, and you, of course. There are hiking trails and everything. You know, if we ever get some time off." 

"We're all off now," Emma pointed out, "and as long as we're reasonable, I can't imagine Richard ever telling us no." She leaned in towards Derek and whispered, "And if Adele gets her wish and Richard retires, you can give us off whenever you want." Derek smiled at that. Emma was the only one he told when the Chief offered him the promotion. With everything going on now, he was sort of glad he told Richard to stay on. But how long could that last? Especially since Emma was adamant about getting Richard and Adele back together.

The front door opened. "Oh, good, you're here," a man said. "Does she like it?"

"Oh, Emma, this is Martin Brooks," Derek introduced the two, "Mr. Brooks this is Emma Shepard-Carter." Emma shook the realtor's hand, exchanging pleasantries. "Have the owners accepted our offer?"

"They have indeed," the realtor said. "Let's go to the kitchen and fill out the paperwork." 

"I'll be right back," Derek said, smiling. Martin Brooks and Derek left the foyer as Mark came back down the stairs.

"How's Addison," he asked quietly, realizing they were alone.

"She's doing well," Emma said quietly. "She seems happy." Mark nodded. "How are _you_ doing?"

"Fine," Mark lied.

"Umhmm," Emma said. "Mark this place is great," she said, changing the subject. "How many bedrooms are there?"

"Eight," Mark answered, "this place is huge for Seattle."

"What do you know about Seattle, anyway," Emma teased. "All you've ever seen is the hospital and your hotel room."

"Oh, ha, ha. Come look at the fireplace," he said, leading her into the study. "This is going to be a great house."

"No, Mark," Emma said, causing him to look at her, "it'll be a great home. I can't wait until Maddy sees this."

"Well, all you two have to do is sign and Mr. Brooks can process the paperwork in the morning. It'll be the day after or so before it will be officially ours." Mark and Emma went into the kitchen and signed the rest of the paperwork. "Let's go to Joe's," Derek suggested, "in celebration." After saying goodbye to Mr. Brooks the three of them got back into Mark's SUV and drove to the hospital.

Not able to find Richard, which Emma took as a good sign, she left a note that she'd be in about 9am and not a moment sooner. She met up with Derek, Mark, and Meredith in the lobby when she was done. "Everyone set? Let's go."

"Some of my friends are going to meet us at Joe's," Meredith said. They drove across the street, for no reason – technically, they could have walked over, and went in to Joe's.

"She's back," Joe said upon seeing an Emma. "They told me you went to see Addison. How is she?"

"Addy is fine," Emma said. "How are you? And the boys?"

"I have new pictures," he said, handing her a small photo album before going to the other end of the bar to fill orders. Emma took the photo album to her table with Meredith and her brothers. They all oohed and aahed over pictures of the babies, Walter, and Joe. "Alright, what will you guys have," Joe said, making his way over.

Derek and Mark both order double single malts while Meredith got a beer. Mark was especially shocked when Emma ordered water. "Trying to cut down on my alcohol consumption," she said, answering his questioning look, "it's bad for you." The others nodded as if they bought it, but Emma knew better. "Well, I'm exhausted," Emma said an hour later. "I think I'm ready to find some place to sleep."

"I'll take you to the hotel," Mark said. "Let me pay the tab and we'll go." Excited to get out of the bar, although she thought Joe was a sweetheart, she quickly hugged Meredith and Derek and met Mark at the door. "Ready," he asked. Emma nodded, opening the door just to have Yang, Izzie Stevens, and Alex Karev push by. Both shaking their heads, they left Joe's and went to Mark's waiting SUV. "I think I actually have most of your stuff. Some of your things are still at Adele's."

"How are the two of them doing," she asked, climbing in.

"Alright, I think," Mark said. "Richard doesn't talk to me very much." Emma nodded as if she understood. The ride to the hotel was silent.

It was starting to feel like old times. Although Emma usually drove an inebriated Mark home, but instead Mark drove an exhausted Emma to the hotel. She had tsked tsked at him because he was living in a hotel but she had always disliked the fact he hired a maid when he lived in New York. They talked for a while before settling down to watch television. The difference was that Mark did most of the talking and Emma listened. Not that Mark was talking a lot either. It seemed to Mark like Emma didn't want to talk and maybe that was the case, but it still bothered him.

He was lying in bed reading a book, propped up against a bunch of pillows while Emma laid the other way, head closet to the television, with a book nearby to read during the commercials. They were watching some show, Mark wasn't paying attention to it, when the commercial came on. Emma picked up her book and started reading before suddenly throwing the book away in audible disgust.

"What?"

"Nothing," Emma said, lying down completely, her head resting on her arms.

"No, really, what's wrong?"

Emma said nothing. Mark turned the television off and put his book facedown on the nightstand. He didn't read often, it was always something he had done with Emma (mostly because she was a book whore, but whatever). "Emma?"

"Why does everything change," she asked finally. Mark said and did nothing. What was he supposed to do? "I mean, obviously, things change, I get it. The world still spins, the sun and moon go up and down in the sky, and people get sick and need surgery or die. Some things don't change and some do. It's life. I can wrap my head around that."

Mark couldn't help but feel as if this is what he had been waiting for. Never mind the fact that if she were someone else, some other woman, he would have tuned her out by now. He'd always have a soft spot in his heart for Emma Shepard, whatever you would call the soft spot was still up for grabs.

Emma turned around so she was lying on her back, but still at the other end of the bed. She sighed. "Did you ever have the feeling that you weren't good enough?"

"Sometimes," Mark answered carefully.

"I blame myself. I should have known better. I knew he wasn't going to be home a lot. I knew that I was going to be busy. We didn't stand a chance. It's not like we grew apart though, that I could have stood, maybe. He cheated on me. _He_ cheated on _me_, on our _anniversary_." Emma sighed. "Logically, I know that it isn't my fault. I know that, Mark. My heart is not listening to my brain; it does that sometimes. I think that's what got me in this mess."

Mark would never be able to determine how he figured it out, but something told him Emma had yet to grieve for the end of her marriage. Maybe it some weird way she was still trying to hold on. It probably wouldn't be anytime soon, but she would need to release the feelings and he would do what he could to help her through it.

"One thing I know about you Shepards," Mark said after a few moments of silence, "is that you believe in this whole soul mate and true love thing. Okay, so maybe your sisters don't, but you and Derek – there aren't many out there like you. You guys seemed to get trampled on the most."

"Yeah," Emma said.

"Emma, you'll get through this. You'll even love again."

Emma smiled. Mark was channeling her Dad, or trying to.

"Hey, Mark," Emma said, sitting up.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime," Mark said, picking up the in-house telephone. "Hungry?" Emma laughed. Only Mark would think of food at a time like this.


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you guys for the great show of support, I appreciate it. It's great to know that so many people like the story. I've having trouble with Chapter Thirteen but I decided to post chapter 10 (obviously, you're about to read it). If anyone has some ideas, throw my way! Thanks a bunch. M. Nichole**

**CHAPTER TEN**

Richard hadn't specified a time, which was unlike him, so Emma decided to go in when Mark did. They enjoyed breakfast at the hotel's restaurant and then went back upstairs to get ready for the day. "Are you happy in Seattle," Mark asked as they stepped into the elevator to go back downstairs.

"Why wouldn't I be," Emma questioned, leaning back against the elevator.

"You just should be happy," Mark said, shrugging.

Mark had been acting weird as of late. _Sure_, Emma thought, _he always acts different when there are other people around but he hasn't been doing that here in Seattle. _Emma smiled. _He did mention he was a reformed_ manwhore. _That would be interesting_.

"Thank you," she said, as they stepped off the elevator. Mark pulled her back against him. "What?"

"You almost ran into Callie O'Malley," he said, smiling down at her. "Good morning," he said to the woman Emma almost knocked down. "How are you?"

"Fine," the woman responded sharply. "Shouldn't you already be at the hospital?"

"Shouldn't you," Mark countered. "See you later." They walked outside and hopped into Mark's SUV.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Callie? I think her husband is cheating on her. Well, that's what she thinks and she's told me."

"She confided in you," Emma asked, suitably impressed.

"Well, she used to have Addison, but. . ."

"Addison left," Emma filled in. "That sucks." Mark nodded. "Wait. Did you say O'Malley as in George-who-lives-in-the-house-of-doctors-O'Malley?"

"One in the same," Mark said, pulling into the hospital parking lot. "Yang calls him Bambi." Emma laughed and shook her head. They were walking in through the front door when Derek yelled out to her running across the lobby.

"Emma, Richard's looking for you," he said, panting slightly. "He wants to give you a tour and introduce you to some people. Man, I need to start working out again."

"Yeah, probably, where is he?"

"Somewhere on the fourth floor," he said. "You're supposed to find Cristina Yang and start rounding. Find him when you find him. I need some water. I. . ." Derek walked away. Emma turned to Mark who held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Yeah, well, whatever," Emma said. "I guess I should change." Mark and Emma went to the Attendings' locker room. Emma opened her locker to find three sets of dark blue scrubs. "I liked the black ones," she pouted.

"Black scrubs are for visiting surgeons," Mark said, tying his scrub pants, "you're now one of us."

"One of us; one of us," Emma chanted under her breath. "Alright, let's get this day started. I already want to go back to bed." Emma found Yang at the Nurse's Station. "Good morning, Dr. Yang," Emma greeted. "I hear we have a patient or two this morning."

"Yes, Dr. Shepard-Carter," Cristina said. "Here's the chart for the first patient."

Emma flipped it open. "Well, it didn't take Mr. Carmarthen long to find me, did it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Mr. Carmarthen is a patient of mine from New York," Emma explained, flipping through the chart with Cristina beside her and a group of interns running behind them. "He's a patient who lives in a Nursing Home in Jersey," she said. "He's had heart problems since I was an intern." Emma smiled. "Let's see what we can do for Mr. Carmarthen today."

The intern stood up as Emma walked in, handing the chart to Cristina. "Good morning, Emma," Mr. Carmarthen said, smiling, "beautiful day, isn't it?"

"It's always a beautiful day when I get to see you, Mr. Carmarthen," Emma said, sitting down on the edge of his bed. Emma smiled at him. "What happened?"

"I was eating dinner with Esther," he said, his smile growing wider. "You remember when I told you about Esther, don't you?"

"Of course, she's the new hot chick on the block," Emma answered, "the one that thought you were too old for her." The intern chuckled, causing both Mr. Carmarthen and Emma to look over at her and smile.

"That's the one," he said, looking back towards Emma. "Anyway, Esther and I were eating and she told me she loved me. I think I had a heart attack."

"You _think_ you had a heart attack," Emma said, skeptically. She turned to Dr. Yang. "Run a full work up on him and page me as soon as you know anything. Someone should be with him at all times," she said, "Mr. Carmarthen is very important, so see that it's done." She smiled at her patient. "You get some rest and I'll be back soon," she said.

Mr. Carmarthen smiled back at her and nodded, sighing and leaning back into his pillow more deeply. Emma was all smiles until she got in the hall, where she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, sighing. "Dr. Shepard-Carter?"

"Just Shepard," Emma said.

"What?"

"Just Shepard," Emma said. "My husband signed the divorce papers; I'm going back to my maiden name." Cristina nodded. "Alright, let's go see our other patient. Your interns are running the labs, right?" Cristina nodded again. "Let's go," she said, accepting the chart.

"I think you'll like it here," they heard Richard Webber say as they walked down the hall. He came out of a conference room and stood there looking in. "We have a great Ortho Department here. But you knew that already," he laughed. Richard stepped away from the door, letting the person he was talking to step into the hallway.

Emma forgot how to breathe. "Dr. Shepard-C. . .Dr. Shepard? Are you okay? Do you ne. . .?" Cristina Yang stood there and watched the top-most surgeon freeze in fear or shock in the middle of the hallway. She watched as the Chief of Surgery turned around and smiled at the doctor beside her. She watched as the person beside the Chief of Surgery walked towards them, telling the Chief he'd only be a moment.

"Emma," the man said quietly, standing very close to her.

"Talon," Emma said, not looking at him.

"I found you."

"Yes," Emma said. "You did." Cristina shifted uncomfortably. "We'll talk later, right? I have to go check on a patient. Let's get going, Dr. Yang." Emma walked off, in the wrong direction. Cristina, for once not sure what to do, followed.

"Not that it's any of my business," she said when Emma sat down in an empty exam room, "but who was that?"

"A friend from New York."

"What does he want?"

"I don't know," Emma said slowly. "Alright, let's go check on the patient and then I'll go find Richard and find out what's going on." They left the room and went to see Mrs. Banks who was in for a valve replacement. Ten minutes later, after look over the labs for Mrs. Banks, Emma asked Cristina to book an OR for later that afternoon while she went to find the Chief. She found Derek in a conference room instead. "Talon's here."

"Yes, he is," Derek said, not looking up from his laptop. "I take it you ran into him."

"He found me," she said, slightly irked. "How long did you know?"

"Yesterday morning," Derek said, "and Richard asked me not to tell you about it. It was supposed to be a surprise."

"Hhumph," Emma mumbled, sitting down beside her brother.

"Did you and Mark have a good night last night," Derek asked, his voice laced with amusement.

"Oh, grow up," Emma said. "I needed a place to crash and he was driving. Have you heard from the Real Estate Agent yet?"

"He called a half an hour ago while I was in surgery," Derek told her. "We should be able to move in by the end of the week." His phone went off. Derek pulled the phone out of his pocket, looked at it, and shoved back into his pocket. Emma raised her eyebrows at him. "It's nothing important," he said, closing his laptop. "Actually, I have something to tell you. Let's go get some coffee." They walked down to the coffee cart by the main entrance – Derek getting coffee and Emma selecting some hot chocolate.

"What," Derek asked, "no caffeine? Maybe I should be worried about you and Mark."

"Not in this lifetime," Emma said.

"Oh, now see," Mark said, coming out of nowhere, "now I'm offended."

"Good," Emma said, ordering a bone dry cappuccino before Mark had the chance to speak. She paid for it and handed it to Mark. "What are you doing here?"

Mark looked at Derek who shook his head slightly.

"What was that," Emma asked. "That what there. That look. What was it? What's going on?"

"MOMMY," a set of four year old lungs yelled. Emma froze. "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy." A small pair of arms hugged her knees. Emma looked down to see Maddison looking up at her. Handing her hot chocolate to Derek, she picked her daughter up.

"Oh, Maddy," Emma said, "I'm so glad you're here." She turned to Derek. "And what _is_ she doing here?"

"We brought her," her mother said. Emma turned around to find her mother, her sisters, her brother-in-laws, and her nieces and nephews standing in the lobby of Seattle Grace Hospital.

**GAGAGAGAGA**

Meredith walked down the hall with George O'Malley beside her. They both needed coffee and fast. "This is going to be a bad day," Meredith said.

"Probably," George agreed, "but we'll get through it."

Meredith looked at him. "Aren't we the optimist this morning?" George shrugged. "I really need some coffee." George nodded. They walked into the lobby because it had the closest coffee cart.

"What's going on here," George asked as the two of them looked on at all the people hugging. "Dr. Shepard is hugging someone, Meredith."

"I see, George."

"Isn't that one his sister who visited a couple of months ago," George asked.

Meredith took a deep breath. George was right. Nancy was in Seattle. Since Emma was down there too, logic dictated that the Shepards were in Seattle. Right? Meredith took another deep breath and walked towards the coffee cart, George practically glued to her side.

"Meredith," Derek called out, "I need to talk to you." He rushed over and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the swarm of people. "I didn't get a chance to tell you," he said, apologetically, "but my family is in town. You don't have to meet everyone else if you don't want to. But. . ."

"But you want me to," Meredith said. Derek nodded. Meredith looked over and saw Emma smiling at her. "Alright, but you so owe me," she said. Derek smiled, sliding an arm around her waist as they moved towards his family.

Meredith was finally meeting everyone. It made since. He had met her mother (although she wasn't lucid at the time), her father (even when he was a jerk the last time), both her half sisters, her deceased stepmother, and her niece.

It was nice that Meredith was finally meeting his family. With a warning look towards his sisters, he began the introductions.

**GAGAGAGAGAGA**

Dr. Kevin Talon stood leaning against the rails of the walking bridge high above everyone on the floor of the lobby. Richard Webber stood beside him, mimicking his pose. "What do you think, Kevin," Richard asked. "Are you going to like Seattle?"

"I need to tell you something before I start," Talon said, taking a deep breath. "I didn't come to Seattle job searching. Well, I need a job, but it wasn't this particular job that brought me here."

"I see," Richard said, standing up.

Talon did the same. "I came back to Manhattan after two months of being in the Doctors without Borders program in Africa to find my whole life turned upside down." Talon took a deep breath before continuing, ignoring Richard's confused look. "I was Emma's resident when she was an intern. She already had Maddison; Riggs had just passed away. I watched as she met and fell in love with Nigel. I danced with her at the reception. I have probably loved Emma Shepard since I've met her but have been too chicken shit to do anything about it. She knows, on some level, I'm sure she knows. She may even love me back. Her mother told me she was getting a divorce. I came here to be with Emma, Richard, even if she doesn't want me." Talon smiled at Emma fondly as she picked up her daughter and swung her around, causing the little girl to giggle.

"I'm telling you all this because I love her. I'm not sure how she'll take it when she finds out," Talon said. "But I love her and I'll spend every moment of the rest of my life proving it."

Richard nodded. He wasn't sure how Derek or Mark would take it, but if anyone had to have Emma's heart he though Kevin Talon was the right man for the job.

**So, Talon professed his love for Emma to . . . Richard? Yeah, but I liked the idea.**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Cristina was scrubbing in when Emma Shepard rushed in. "I'm sorry I'm running late," Emma said, reaching for a sponge. "My family showed up and I had to talk to them."

"Does Meredith know," Cristina asked, not looking over at the doctor beside her.

"Yes," Emma nodded. "She's even met everyone. It was one big family reunion."

Cristina turned to look at Emma. "Then why do you look ready to kill someone?"

"Did I ever mention that I hate my sister, Nancy," Emma scowled.

"No," Cristina said, a genuine smile appearing behind her mask.

"Well, now I have and I'll continue saying it until she leaves. She can be such a bitch."

"Alright, then," Cristina said. "Just don't kill the old lady on the table." Emma laughed. "She's laughing and I'm being serious."

**GAGAGAGAGA**

Derek couldn't believe he was eating lunch with just about his entire family and he wanted nothing more than a long, grueling surgery to get him out of it. Mark and Meredith didn't look much better.

"Well, hello, Shepards," Kevin Talon said, walking towards the table. "Mark, good to see you again. And who's this? Mark, is she yours," Talon asked, gesturing towards Meredith.

"This is Meredith Grey, Talon," Mark said, "and she's Derek's."

"I'm not _anyone's_, Mark," Meredith hissed, punching his shoulder. Derek chuckled, brushing stray hairs out of Maddison's eyes, who sat on his lap.

"She's not mine," Derek spoke up, "but I'm most definitely hers." Meredith blushed but smiled at him. Mark and Derek noticed that she didn't get mad with his public proclamation of adoration, but Meredith didn't.

"Talon!" Maddison reached up for him. Talon walked over and picked her up, giving her a hug. "Mommy's fixing people," Maddison said, her arms still around Talon's neck.

"I heard," Talon said. "She'll be done soon. What are you doing tonight, Poppet?"

"I don't know. What are _you_ doing?"

"Hopefully, something with you and Mommy. We'll see," he said, trying to put her down, but she wouldn't let go. "Poppet, I have to talk to the Chief," he said, "go see Uncle Derek."

"I wanna see Dr. Travis," Maddison pouted.

Derek and Mark laughed.

"Um, this is a different Chief," Talon said, "Dr. Travis is still in New York."

"Why?"

"Because he lives there," Talon tried to explain.

"We'll see Dr. Travis soon, right?"

"The next time you come visit me," her grandmother said, "I'll take you to see Dr. Travis."

"Yea, Dr. Travis," Maddison said, giggling. "Talon, let's go see Mommy."

"Mommy is making people better."

"Yes, but I wanna _see_," she said, her arms going tighter around his neck. Talon turned to the group there.

"She used to sit in the gallery all the time," Mark said, shrugging. "Ask the chief though."

"Don't let her sit too close to the window," Derek said, "and take her out of there if things start going down hill."

"Maybe it isn't a good idea," Nancy said, pulling her youngest son into her lap.

"We know what we're doing," Talon said, holding Maddison tighter. "Let's go see Momma, Poppet." Maddison smiled. Talon waved at everyone and went to check the Board to see what OR Emma was in. He was glad to have Maddison in his arms, as much as he missed Emma; he had missed Maddison, too. There hadn't been a day that had gone by when Talon hadn't at least talked to Maddison since Emma had started at the hospital, except, of course, for his two months in Africa.

He found Richard at the Board. "Hello, Maddison," Richard said, smiling at the little girl. "You probably don't remember me, do you?"

"No," she said, getting shy and burying her face in Talon's shoulder.

"Poppet, this is the Chief in Seattle," Talon said. "This is Dr. Richard."

"Hi, Dr. Richard," Maddison said, moving her head to look at him.

"Hi, Maddison," he said back. "What are you two doing?"

"Going to see Momma," Maddison said, smiling. "I love Momma."

Richard smiled but turned to Talon, "Are you sure that's wise?"

"We used to do it all the time in New York," Talon said, "but if you'd prefer not. . ."

"No. No, that's fine," Richard said, "Emma is in OR 4." Talon nodded and took Maddison upstairs to the OR floor. He slipped in the gallery, taking two back seats, but kept Maddison in his lap. There were two people sitting up front, ignoring him. They were far enough back that they actually couldn't see the patient but they both could see Emma on the other side of the patient, looking down and commanding the OR.

Talon smiled. _Emma's back_.

GAGAGAGAGA 

"Close up for me, Dr. Yang," Emma said, smiling. The valve replacement had gone well. There had been no complications, no problems – even minor ones – so Emma was happy. She could tell that Cristina was still smiling behind her mask. Emma smiled back, looking up at the gallery. Callie O'Malley and Miranda Bailey sat in the front room. There was someone in the back, but she couldn't really see until _he _stood up, holding her daughter, who waved eagerly at her.

She watched Kevin Talon push the intercom button.

"Hello, Momma," Maddison said, smiling. Everyone looked up at the gallery and Emma saw O'Malley and Bailey smile, oohing and ahhing over her daughter.

"Hey, Poppet," she called out. "What are you doing?"

"Watching you work," she said. "Dr. Richard, Uncle Derek, and Uncle Mark said it was okay."

Yang looked up. "Uncle Mark?"

"Fake brother," Emma said. "I'll meet you in the hall in a few minutes," Emma called out to her daughter. She watched Talon push the intercom button again and leave the gallery. "I shouldn't be surprised," Emma said, causing a few of the scrub nurses to laugh, "some things never change."

"Cute kid," someone commented as she walked out of the OR.

"Thanks," she said, the scrub room doors closing behind her. She missed her daughter, but she wouldn't have been able to do what she had done with Maddison tagging along. It was mean to think but it was the truth. She had needed . . . time.

She was pretty sure she had everything figured out, except for the baby thing. She needed to tell someone. Although she liked Yang alright, she didn't think that she would be interested in a heart to heart. Maybe she could call Addison tonight. Maybe. . .she could talk to her sister, Tessa. Or Talon was always a good listener. She needed to think this out more.

Who was she kidding? She knew exactly what and/or who she needed – she needed the combination best friend/big brother. Derek would be all big brother and no best friend, at least with something like this. A nurse walked in.

"Could you page Mark Sloan for me," Emma asked, grabbing some paper towels.

"Of course, Doctor," the nurse said, lowering her mask to smile at her.

"Thanks," Emma said, throwing the paper towels out. She would talk to Mark and everything would be okay. Until then, it was time to entertain her daughter and figure Talon out.

Maddison rushed up to her mother as she walked out of the scrub room. "Mommy!"

"Hey, Poppet," Emma said, scooping her up. "How much did you see?"

"I saw you," Maddison said. Talon smiled at her.

"Okay," Emma said. "Listen, I have to go check on Mr. Carmarthen," she said, readjusting Maddison on her hip. "Do you want to come see him with me?"

"Yep."

"Alright, tell Talon we'll see him later," Emma said.

"Bye, Talon," Maddison waved, before singing, "we're off to see the wizard."

Mr. Carmarthen was very happy to see Maddison.

"You didn't have a heart attack," Emma said, looking over his films. "I think maybe it was just an anxiety attack. Why didn't you let the doctors in New York look over you?"

"Because they aren't _my_ doctor, Emma," he said, smiling as Maddison ran around in circles, still singing. "You are my doctor and I wanted you to look over me and run the tests and whatever else needs done."

"Mr. Carmarthen. . ."

"Salvador," he said, sternly.

"What?"

"My name is Salvador," Mr. Carmarthen said, "and you should call me by my name. We've only known each other since your first day as an Intern."

"You're right, Mr. . .Salvador. You are very right. But, I live in Seattle now," she said, gently, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "I'll monitor you from here but I can't be there all the time."

"One of the nurses told me you left," he said, "so I called my grandson to track you down and get me transferred. I'm thinking of moving to a Home out here."

"Why?"

"Because you care, Emma," he said, loudly. "You care more than most. You actually care if I'm alright, you're scared with me if I need surgery or something. You care and I want _you_ as my doctor. Why is that so damn hard to understand?"

"Damn," Maddison said, smiling at them.

"What have we said about bad words," Emma asked.

"Sorry," Maddison and Salvador said at the same time.

"Alright, Salvador," Emma said, "I'll be back later. Do you want me to call your grandson and set it up?"

"Yes," he said. Emma got Maddison to stop running around in circles and picked her up to walk out the door. "Emma," he said, as she was about to step out the door. Emma turned around. "Thank you." She nodded and left.

Mark found her fifteen minutes in a linen closet crying. Women were always crying in linen closets, it seemed to Mark Sloan, but he couldn't figure out why. In this particular case, though, he really wanted to know. "I got your page," Mark said, holding up his pager, "but you were no where to be found."

"Thanks for finding me," she said. "Maddison is with Mom, right?"

"Maddison is with Mom," he confirmed. "What's wrong," he said, sitting down beside her and reaching over to wipe away a tear.

"I'm a mess. . . . and an idiot. I'm an idiotic mess and I hate it."

"You're not an idiot, Emma, very far from it. What's wrong?"

"I went to see Addison," she got out before she started sobbing. Mark sighed, putting his arm around her as he tried to figure out if she needed big brother or best friend more. It usually wasn't this hard, it was never this hard with her, so he decided to wait.

"You're upset you went to see Addison," he asked, silently cursing himself and thinking: _What part of wait do you not understand?_

"I'm seven weeks along." She was clinging to him and crying harder.

"Along what?"

"Mark!"

"What? What's wrong," he asked, putting his legs down and pulling her into his lap so he could hold her while she cried. "Emma," he whispered, "you have to _tell_ me what's wrong. I can't help you; I can't fix it, unless I know. I need to know, Emma, so tell me."

"I'm pregnant," she whispered back. "I'm pregnant and I don't want to be. It's Nigel's. The baby is Nigel's, Mark."

"Damn," he whispered back, rubbing her back up and down. "Seven weeks?" Emma nodded. "You'll get through this, sweetheart," he said. "You'll get through this because you have to and because you have people who are here for you. Your family may be going home soon, but you'll still have Derek and me. Richard is here for you. Meredith is here for you, I'm sure, and Yang would go to the ends of the Earth for you already. You'll be fine."

"I'll be fine," she repeated.

"You'll be fine," he reiterated. "Do you want to wait to tell Derek _after_ the rest of the Shepards go home?" She nodded, causing a chuckle to escape from him. Emma smiled.

"Thank you," she said.

"Your welcome," Mark said, as the door came open.

"Emma," Talon said, "why didn't you tell _me_?"

Again, I don't know how much of any of this is possible. I wasn't originally going to let Maddison in the gallery, but decided to go with it. Oh, and Callie and Miranda are doing that whole scene with pecking order and asking for help think from the fourth season episode that recently aired. Got it? Oh, yeah, I'm not sure about Talon's reaction, but he's used to knowing everything going on in Emma's life, whether she realized it or not. Hope you liked it!

**Chapter thirteen is finished, it's funny, if I do say so myself – and I do. So, I'm on to Chapter fourteen – wish me luck!**

**M. Nichole**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

"Talon," Emma said, jumping up and wiping away a stray tear. "How much have you heard?"

"I heard everything," he said, stepping into the closet and closing the door behind him. "How long have you known?"

"Addison ran some tests while I was in LA," she said. "It's not a big deal. . .it's. . ."

"It most certainly is a big deal," he said, getting angry, "I've always been here for you, why not now?"

"What is wrong with you," Emma said, getting defensive, "last time I checked – it was my life. Calm down, will you?"

"I will not calm down," Talon said. "I won't . . . do you have any idea . . . this is . . . this is crazy."

"Let me remind you, Talon, that I already have a daughter so the idea of me being pregnant isn't all that crazy," she said. "At some point in time, I was actually wanted, even if most recently it was from my cheating, boneheaded, soulless husband. Now, I do have actual patients somewhere in this gigantic hospital to look after . . . If you'll excuse me," Emma said, pushing past Talon, "I have patients I'd like to check on."

"No you don't," Talon said, grabbing a hold of her arm.

Why were people constantly grabbing her arm? Emma took a deep breath, staring at Talon. "Oh, no," she challenged, "and why is that?"

"I'm going to tell Richard that you need the rest of the day off," he said. "You'll spend the day with your family before they leave. They're leaving in the morning, you know. Then it'll just be Mark, Derek, Maddison, you, and me." He pulled her closet to him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily," he smiled at her. "You weren't there when I got back."

"I couldn't," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "It was too painful to be in New York," she told him, "the memories . . . I just . . . I couldn't."

"Two days, Emma," Talon said, fiercely, not sure if he was mad at her or himself. "Two days and I would have been back. Whatever you needed . . . need . . . you aren't alone."

"I know that," she said, pulling her arm from his grasp. "I know a lot of things. I'm a doctor, remember?"

"How can I forget," he asked, smiling down at her. "I was your Resident."

"So," Emma said. "I have to go." She yanked the door open and stormed out of the closet, unaware of the nurses nearby talking about her already.

Mark looked at Talon and raised an eyebrow. "Something you want to tell me, there, _dude_?"

Talon sighed. "Alright, so . . ."

**GAGAGAGAGA**

All of the Shepards, Mark included, went for a big dinner that night. Meredith, luckily for her, was on call that night and helping Cristina Yang watch over Salvador Carmarthen but had promised to try and get off her shift early. Talon was eerily absent but the Chief and Adele joined them, much to Emma's delight. It took several tables to accommodate everyone, but the restaurant pulled it off.

It wasn't that Derek hated his family. He liked having Emma and Maddison, even Mark, in Seattle. He loved his family, too, but when everyone got together . . . it was not a good time. Except holidays, holidays were always good. Of course, there was scotch at the holidays and Derek desperately needed scotch.

Derek sat beside Emma, Mark on his other side. Richard and Adele both sat on the other side of Emma and Maddison on the other side of Mark. Between Adele and Maddison, though? Nancy and her husband Hank. Nancy was going on to Hank about Addison and how great she was.

She was really trying to talk badly about Meredith, but since Derek and Emma both told her – threatened her, really – not to, she tried a different approach. That is, until Derek had enough.

"Nancy, enough," Derek said, slamming down his fork. "I know what you're doing and knock it off. No one, _no one_, wants to hear it."

"What am I doing, Derek," Nancy asked, glaring at her brother.

"You are talking about Addison, which, normally, is fine. Though the only reason you're talking about her now, as you are, is because you really want to bad mouth Meredith. This is only the second time you've met her, Nancy. I've even told you what happened. Yet you sit there, high up on your imaginary horse, talking down about a woman that you don't even know. A woman that is amazing. She's had a hard year. She was sort of, kind of reunited with her father. Her mother passed away. Her stepmother passed away and her father blames her for it. She came back from the dead, Nancy. She was dead. Dead! She came back from the _dead_, for me, for her friends, and for herself. She didn't have to. But she did and I will be forever grateful for it. She makes me smile, just by walking in the room." Emma pulled on Derek's sleeve, trying to get his attention.

"Not now, Emma," Derek said, not bothering to look at her. "Addison and I. . .I didn't love Addison the way that I was supposed to. . .the way I love Meredith. I probably never did. I thought so at the time, yes, but . . . Neither one of us saw it because the rest of you love her so much. She deserves better . . . so much better. She deserves to have someone lover her, adore her, like I love Meredith." He took a deep breath. "I won't have you sit here and kind of, sort of bad mouth her. I will marry her one day. Do you hear me? We will have our happily ever after."

"Derek," Emma hissed, still trying to get his attention. "Derek, please."

"No, Emma, this needs to be said," Derek told her, leaning in towards Nancy. "You better watch what you say, _sister_, and this is not a threat. This is an honest to goodness promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you out of my life if you so much as have a funny look on your face should someone mention her name. Do you hear me?"

"Tell us how you really feel," Emma murmured. "Are you listening to me now?"

Derek turned towards his youngest sister. "You have my undivided attention, Emma. What is it?"

"Meredith is here," she said, pointing to the other side of the next table over.

Indeed, there stood Meredith Grey, freshly showered and in a nice dress, standing in the middle of the dining room of a fancy restaurant frozen in shock of what her kind of, sort of, most of the time McDreamy boyfriend said. Beside her stood Izzie Stevens, her arm around Meredith's shoulders to keep her upright.

"Over here," Maddison said, talking for the first time since her Uncle Derek started ranting. After a glare from Derek, Nancy and Hank changed tables, going to sit with their sister Katherine and her husband Thomas. Meredith and Izzie slowly made their way to the table. Everyone shifted around so Meredith could sit by Derek. Izzie sat down beside Mark, with Emma on the other side. Maddison was between her mother and Adele and Richard sat between Adele and Meredith.

"Dr. Stevens," Emma said, "you look great. Doesn't she look great, Mark?"

"What? Oh, yes. Yes, she certainly does," he said. "You should dress like that at the hospital, Dr. Stevens, maybe I wouldn't get so bored."

"I didn't just hear that," Richard said, putting his hands over his ears as Emma punched Mark in the shoulder. "Will you quit punching people, Emma? Those are my hands now. Knock it off."

"Fine," she said, glaring at Mark. "I can't believe you," she whispered to him. She looked over at Derek, who was in deep conversation with Meredith. She smiled. They didn't look like they were arguing or anything. She glanced over at Richard and smiled widely as Adele took his hands from his ears and told him to eat his dinner. What surprised her though was the fact that Mark was staring at Izzie Stevens and Izzie Stevens was staring right back.

"I'm tired," Emma announced. "I think I'll just take a cab back to the hotel. I'll get my own room, Mark, until we're able to move into the house. C'mon, poppet, it's past your bed time."

"I'm not tired, Mommy," Maddison whined with a yawn.

"Sure you aren't," she said. "Say goodnight to everyone and we'll get going." Maddison went around the table and hugged everyone goodnight, including Meredith and Izzie. After a quick trip around the rest of the tables where their family sat, Emma hugged her mother goodbye and went to fetch a cab, now carrying an exhausted Maddison.

Mark ordered another round of drinks for the table he sat at, getting alcoholic drinks for everyone but Richard. "That's quite alright, Mark," Richard said when he offered, "some water will be fine." Adele pulled Richard into another conversation. Since Derek and Meredith certainly weren't planning on talking to anyone else anytime soon, Mark turned to Izzie.

"I hope it's okay I came," she said before he could start talking. "Meredith asked me to come, she wasn't sure she wanted to be here by herself."

"It's fine," Mark said, smiling at her. "It's, uh, come to my attention that my comment earlier, might have been, uh, a little. . ."

"It's fine, Dr. Sloan," Izzie said as the waiter brought over drinks.

"Mark," he said as the waiter left.

"I'm sorry," Izzie asked, sipping her drink.

"My name is Mark," he said, "we aren't at the hospital. We are sort of enjoying a nice meal; you can call me by my first name."

"Only if you call me by mine," Izzie said, raising her eyebrows, waiting for his reaction.

Mark just smiled and raised his glass. "To a wonderful evening, Izzie."

"To a wonderful evening, Mark," Izzie said, moving her glass forward to clink against his.

**GAGAGAGA**

Cristina Yang sat with her feet propped up as she did paperwork in Salvador Carmarthen's room. She had her interns running labs and stuff but she knew they were most likely sleeping somewhere. Meredith and Izzie had left about an hour ago and Cristina was seriously having a hard time staying awake.

There was a knock at the doorway. Cristina looked up. Alex Karev came sauntering in. "Oh," she said, looking back down at her paperwork, "it's you, Evil Spawn."

"Yep," he said, pulling a chair over beside her and sitting on it backwards. "Friend of yours," he asked, gesturing to the old man in the bed.

"Friend of Dr. Shepard's," she said, absently, scribbling on the chart on her lap.

"Meredith's Dr. Shepard or the other one?"

"The other one," Cristina said, looking at him. "Is there something you needed or . . . you just here to piss around with me?"

"Consider me pissing," Alex said. "So, why are we here?"

"I'm here to watch over this guy, you are here to annoy me, apparently," she said.

"Come on, Yang, everyone else is out having a good time," he said, "except maybe George. We're stuck here. The least we could do is have a conversation."

"What is _wrong_ with you? I mean, seriously, you've been being a bigger ass than normal and you're kind of clingy. It's pathetic, really."

"It _is _pathetic. It's this whole Rebecca thing," he said, banging his head off the back of the chair a couple time. "I was stupid to let her go, I know that, but now . . . she's sort of happy with him. She thinks she's going to try and make it work. Now that Addison is in LA. . .I don't have any distractions."

"What ever happened to you and Barbie?"

"Denny," he said quietly.

"Oh, well, maybe you could try again," she said, "unless you really want this Rebecca person in which case you should quit complaining to me and tell _her_. Who knows, maybe she even wants to hear it?"

**So, Chapter Thirteen kicked my ass, but it's finished. I should be posting it shortly (but not too soon as not to diminish chapter twelve's wonderful glow or some such nonsense). Let me know what you think and as always, suggestions are welcomed. **

**M. Nichole**


	13. Chapter 13

Alright, so I find this chapter humorous. It's serious, though, but there are some fairly fun parts. Reviews are appreciated but not necessary.

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Kevin Talon laid on the bottom bunk in one of the on-call rooms on the surgery floor. He's transition to Seattle Grace had gone smoothly, so smoothly that no one really knew he was there. Someone needed an Ortho Surgeon, they all called Callie O'Malley, who was also the Chief Resident. Richard Webber had offered him the Head of Orthopedics position and he had gratefully taken it, needing to be near Emma.

"I'm such a fool," he thought to himself silently. She was divorcing her husband for cheating on her and there he was following her cross-country like a helpless little puppy. He had been so excited to be returning to the states after being in Africa. He had been grateful to be going back to Manhattan, to his hospital, to Emma . . . and Maddison. He had been confused when he came to her apartment and she wasn't there. He had gone to the hospital and still Emma had been no where to be found. He turned to her apartment the next day, to leave a note, and her mother had opened the door, telling him she had moved to Seattle to be near her brother as far as she could tell.

He was older than she was, not too much older, but older. He should be the mature one in the pseudo relationship they had. She was acting as though she didn't need him. At the very least, she seemed nervous around him. She'd never been like that – not even as an intern.

The door opened. None other than Callie O'Malley walked in. She nodded at him and crawled up onto the upper bunk. She tossed and turned for a few minutes and then must have fallen asleep because she stopped moving.

Talon sighed and crawled out of the bed, grabbing the bag he always carried with him, and left the on-call room, muttering under his breath about coffee. He knew he shouldn't say anything to Emma yet, but well, it was killing him. She was technically, although not legally, free to be in a relationship. He wanted . . . needed her . . . to be with him.

"Dr. Talon," Miranda Bailey said, rushing up to him, a panicked look on her face, "I need you in the Clinic. Could you? Please? 

"Sure, Dr. Bailey, whatever you need," he said, dropping his bag at a Nurse's Station, "it's nice to feel useful."

GAGAGAGAGAGA 

Izzie hadn't had such a nice night out in . . . forever. It had been a really, really long time. She was glad to see Meredith and Derek being so happy together and the Chief and his wife were just too cute. And Mark Sloan? Well, McSteamy was certainly living up to his name after one got past the leering and off color comments. He even drove her home, since George had dropped them off on his way back to the house.

"I know that we were thrown together and everything," Izzie said, turning towards him, her hand already on the door handle, "but thank you for a wonderful night."

"Your welcome, Izzie," he said, smiling. He got out of the car and ran around, opening her door. Izzie just sat there. "What's wrong?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm opening the door for you, Izzie," he said, as if she should have realized that, "and then I'm going to walk you to your front door."

"Why?"

"Because I'm being a gentleman," he said. "Or would you rather I. . ."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry," she said, taking his offered hand and getting out of the car. "Of course, Mark, I'm just not. . .it's fine. Okay, uh, the door is this way." Mark smiled and walked with her, his hand on the small of her back.

Izzie was getting more and more flustered with each step. When had the night turned into a date? They walked across the yard to the door. "Well, this is me," she said unnecessarily. "Um, thanks again, Mark," she smiled. "See you tomorrow?"

"Of course," he said. "So, uh," he leaned in a kissed her cheek. "Good night." He smiled at her again and walked back to his vehicle.

"Good night," she called out, watching Mark hop back into his SUV and drive away. He hadn't kissed her. Well, he had kissed her cheek, but he hadn't . . . Izzie stood there, confused. Maybe the night hadn't turned into a date.

So why was she disappointed instead of relieved?

**GAGAGAGAGAGA**

Mark walked into the Archfield with a Cheshire smile on his face. He went to the front desk and asked the Clerk if there were any messages. She smiled back at him, handing them over. He flipped through them on his way to his room. Most of them were from women and then one was from Emma. She had gotten the room next door. She would be up if he wanted to talk since she had the next day off and was planning on spending it with Maddison.

He took the elevator upstairs and walked down the hall, knocking on Emma's door instead of his own. Emma opened the door slowly and smiled at him. "Did you enjoy your evening," she asked him, leaning against the doorway.

"I have a bit of a problem," he said, not being able to take the smile off of his face.

"What's that, big brother," she asked, pulling him into the room so they wouldn't be talking in the hallway. "Drink?"

"I'm good, thanks," he said. "You remember Izzie Stevens?"

"Yes," she said, "why? What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," he said, "it's what she did to me."

**GAGAGAGA**

Chief Richard Webber had a little extra spring in his step the next morning. He had spent the night in his own house, in his own bed, with his own wife. They had even talked that morning about the possibility of him moving back in.

"You'll need more than one good date, though, Richard," Adele had said, handing him his coffee, "you'll need to work for it."

"I'm miserable without you, Adele," he had told her, wrapping both hands around the coffee.

"I know," she had said, smiling before she had kissed his cheek.

Yes, Richard was in for a great day . . .amazing even.

"Chief, I need to talk to you," Miranda Bailey said, stepping in front of him.

"Miranda," Richard asked, "did you go home last night?"

"No, but I want you to look at these," she said, pulling some films from the folder she carried before passing them over.

Richard held the films up and looked at them, using the florescent lights in the hallway. "What is that, right there," he asked her, using a finger from the hand carrying his briefcase.

"I believe it's a tumor, sir," she said.

"Who's films are these," he asked, handing them back after taking another look.

"Salvador Carmarthen complained of head aches last night," she said. "He complained several times through the night and the intern on duty took him for a CT. Uh, Dr. Talon ordered the test. He wanted me to bring the results to you."

"Okay," he said, beckoning her to follow him down the hall. "Why specifically does Dr. Talon want me to know about Mr. Carmarthen's tumor," he asked.

"Because," she said, stopping in the middle of the hall, "the patient is _her_ transfer from New York and Dr. Talon thinks you should be the one to tell her."

**GAGAGAGA**

Derek and Meredith had gone to the trailer again last night and had driven in together, since Meredith's vehicle was still parked at the hospital. In fact, the two of them had enjoyed a great morning together so far, even scrubbing in on a craniotomy together. "So, Dr. Grey," Derek said, coming up behind her, "do you have plans for lunch today?"

"Why, Dr. Shepard, are you hitting on me?"

"And what if I am," he asked, his voice deepening as he pinned her against the wall.

"Hem, hem," Richard said, walking into the room, "I'm sorry to interrupt, Derek, but I need you to look at this." Derek sighed, dropping his head. Meredith smiled and reached up, dragging her hand through his hair. With another sigh, Derek straightened up and took the films that Richard had been holding, sticking them up on the wall and turning on the light behind them.

"Whose films are these?"

"Is it operable," Richard asked, moving to stand behind him.

"It looks like," he said, folding his arms across his chest, "but it's difficult to determine from these CTs. Are these recent?"

"Taken this morning," Richard said. "Dr. Grey, what do you think?"

Meredith moved forward and looked at the films. "Does anyone know how long the patient has had this tumor," she asked.

"I don't think so," Richard said, "it was found this morning as I understand it. The patient was complaining of headaches throughout the night."

"It's not a big tumor," Meredith said, pointing to it, "but it's in a bad spot to operate. It looks like it's in the language part of the brain. The patient might not be able to talk afterwards. How old is the patient?" 

"In his eighties," Richard said, opening the chart, "86."

"It's risky with his age," Derek said, turning the light off and handing the films back to Richard. "I'd like to run a few tests before I rule anything out, though. Whose the patient?"

"I've just come from his room," Richard said, "and he made me promise that no one would tell Emma until after the surgery is over."

"What does Emma have to do with it," Meredith asked.

"Crap, the patient is Mr. Carmarthen, isn't it?" 

Richard nodded. "Her transfer from New York," he said. "As I understand it, Mr. Carmarthen was one of her first patients and they've seem to have grown attached to each other."

"He was her first triple bypass surgery," Derek said, shaking his head. "I remember when she finished. She was so happy that she'd been able to scrub in with Travis, who wasn't even Chief at the time. She was thrilled he made it through, too. She's been his doctor ever since then."

"That's what Mr. Carmarthen said," Richard told them, "he doesn't seem to think he'll make it through the surgery. I can't see any reason why he wouldn't although his age is against him. He does have a history of heart attack, although his latest hospitalization proved false."

"Like I said, I'd like to run some test," Derek tapped his fingers against his arm. "Emma isn't in today, right?"

"Right."

"So the sooner we get this done, the better."

"Exactly, Shep, and you can't tell Emma. He won't consent to the surgery if she knows. He doesn't want to upset her."

"Couldn't she help talk him into it though, if they're so attached to each other," Meredith asked.

"Normally, I'd say yes, but this time . . . I think it would hinder rather than help. Plus, he's incredibly adamant about it. I don't think we can really mess with this one."

"Well, will run the tests and make a decision," Derek said, "if Mr. Carmarthen is getting surgery, it's going to have to be tonight."

"What," a voice asked, coming from the doorway.

"Emma," Richard said, stepping forward, "what are you doing here?"

"Mark is meeting Maddy and I for lunch, but I wanted to see Derek before we went off," she said, "why does Salvador need surgery?"

"You're on a first name basis," Derek asked.

"He insisted," Emma said, "let me see his chart."

"You're a cardio doctor, not neuro, leave this to Derek to take care of," Richard said, holding the chart behind his back.

"Richard James Webber," Emma said, both hands at her hips, "if you do not hand over that chart right now, I am going to call Adele. I'll make up something really bad to tell her." When Richard refused to back down, Emma pulled out her cell phone and started scrolling through the phone book.

"You can't use cell phones here," Richard said, snatching it from her.

"Fine," she said, spinning around and walking out of the room. "Hi, Debbie," Emma said. "Could I use the phone?"

"Sure, Dr. Shepard," she said, "come on around."

"Debbie! Don't let her use that phone," Richard yelled, running down the hall, a laughing Derek and Meredith running behind him.

"C'mon, Debbie, he won't let me see my patient's chart," she said, "so I'm calling Adele."

"What are you going to tell her," Debbie asked curiously as Emma dialed.

"Oh, I'll think of something," she whispered, dropping the phone and hurrying into the nearest exam room and locking the door behind her. Through the window she could see most of the nearby nurses laughing while the others tried to get filled in. She saw Meredith and Derek, laughing and leaning against each other, oh, and Richard on the other side of the door, pounding like it was going to cave in.

She picked up the phone off the wall and dialed.

So, yeah, originally this chapter kicked my butt. Chapter Fourteen just needs a quick review before I can post it – oh, and if I follow my own rules, I have to write Chapter Fifteen first. Better get on it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen 

Mark and Maddison walked down the hall, looking for Emma. He had a surgery scheduled in the afternoon and if they didn't leave now they weren't going to have lunch. "Uncle Mark," Maddison asked, "what are they doing?"

Mark couldn't help but laugh, even though he had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that there was a laughing Derek and Meredith and a couple dozen nurses, people whispering in clumps of three or four, and Richard – Chief of Surgery – pounding on an Exam Room door.

"Emma Shepard, you open this door right now," Richard yelled loud enough to be heard over his own pounding. "I mean it," he said, "open this door."

"Richard," Mark yelled. The Chief of Surgery turned around and looked at his Head of Plastics with a worried look on his face. "What's going on," he asked, pulling Richard away from the door.

"Emma is going to call Adele because I won't give her a chart."

Mark stopped for a second. "Alright, all of you, clear out of here. Derek, take Maddison with you, please," he said. Derek came over, still chuckling and took his niece by the hand as most of the nurses wondered away. "What is going on, Chief," Mark asked quietly. Richard started explaining about Mr. Carmarthen. "Damn," Mark said, still keeping his voice down. "Look, I don't think we're giving Emma enough credit, but if the patient doesn't want her to know . . . alright, I'll take her out for lunch. We'll leave Maddison here. I guess I can postpone my surgery this afternoon; it isn't a necessary procedure. I'll take her away from the hospital for the rest of the day. You have that surgery done as soon as possible, but if he doesn't need surgery give me a call."

"Alright, I'll have Patricia rearrange your schedule. Maddison can stay here. Now go," Richard said, walking away.

"Emma," Mark called out, lightly knocking on the door. "Emma, open up."

"Mark," she asked, cracking the door open. "Where's Richard? That was fun." Mark raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, knock it off, he started it. Where did he go?"

"Did you really call Adele," he asked.

"No, I called Mom," she said, "they were on their way to the airport. I'm surprised they didn't stop to see you and Derek before the left."

"After last night," Mark said, "I didn't expect them too. Grey's not so bad, you know."

"I never said she was," Emma countered. "I'm exhausted already."

"Let me take you to lunch," Mark suggested, hoping she wouldn't ruin his plan, "before Talon finds you. He's here somewhere."

"You don't think he'll say anything, do you," she asked looking worried as they walked down the hallway.

"I don't think so," Mark said, smiling.

"What did you do," Emma asked, stopping their progression down the hall.

"Nothing, he told me some things, he wouldn't do anything to hurt you," Mark said.

"Yeah," Emma mumbled, "so why did he leave me to go to Africa?"

**GAGAGAGA**

Still having to perform the tests on Mr. Carmarthen, Derek took Maddison with him to the patient's room. Salvador Carmarthen was sitting up in bed, smiling as one of the interns read to him. When Derek turned around to ask her a question, he found Meredith standing outside of the door. "What," he asked, walking up to her.

"That's Lexie," she said, "I just don't want to deal with her right now."

"C'mon, Meredith," Derek said, taking her hand too, "it will be fine. She's Cristina's intern and has to be here. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah," Maddison said, smiling. Meredith found herself smiling back as they entered the room.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just . . ."

"No need to apologize, Dr. Grey," Salvador said, "why don't you get yourself something to eat? I have a feeling this will take a while."

"Not as long as you would think, Mr. Carmarthen," Derek said, sitting down in the chair beside the bed, watching as Maddison crawled onto the hospital bed. "I'm going to run some tests this afternoon. If it's operable, well, the sooner the better."

Mr. Carmarthen nodded. "And Emma doesn't know right? You didn't tell her."

"Actually, she over heard," Derek said. "She just knows that you may need surgery and I'm the one that would be performing it, but she doesn't know what's wrong." 

"Neither do I," Mr. Carmarthen said. "Who's the blondie?"

"This is Dr. Meredith Grey," Derek said, "she's a resident with a strong interest in Neuro. Don't worry, Mr. Carmarthen, you're in good hands."

"It's not her hands I'm worried about," he said, smiling at Maddison.

"I'm sorry," Derek asked, leaning back in the chair.

"You up and left everything, Dr. Shepard," the patient said, sighing as the smile dropped from his face, "and you didn't just leave your wife and your job, you left your little sister behind. Sure, she had your wife until she up and left to follow you, and than the plastic surgeon fellow followed the both of you. And her young man went to Africa."

"Her young man? Nigel was in Sweden."

"Not that one, the other one. I'm just saying if things get too hard, don't leave me hanging."

"Okay, Mr. Carmarthen, I'll do my best," Derek said, not sure what to make of the situation.

"That's all I ask," he said, pushing the button to bring the head of the bed up so he could play with his heart doctor's daughter.

**GAGAGAGA**

Emma and Mark were making their way out of the hospital when they ran into Izzie Stevens and Cristina Yang in the lobby, getting coffee.

"Hello," Emma said, since Mark stopped.

"Uh, hello, Dr. Shepard," Cristina said, "I thought you were off today."

"I am," she said, "I was just meeting up with Mark for lunch since my family left town."

"Did they leave? That was a short stay," Izzie piped in.

"Yes, they decided to leave early," Mark said, "they decided the three of us could behave ourselves." Emma laughed. He must have called her mother this morning before she left. "Anyway, we're just heading out," he said, placing his hand on the small of Emma's back, "we'll be back later on."

Cristina turned to Izzie. "Why are you acting weirder than usual, Barbie?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, "and don't call me Barbie."

Outside, Emma and Mark were getting into his car.

"I'll need to buy a vehicle soon," she said, "and this hospital doesn't have day care service yet."

"I'm sure you can get some nurses to watch her," he said, pulling out of the parking lot. "When does she start school?"

"I'll have to look into preschools or something," she said, leaning back into the seat. "What's wrong with Mr. Carmarthen?"

"Who's that," Mark asked, making a right hand turn. "Why are we eating at?"

"You pick," she said. "What's wrong with Mr. Carmarthen?"

"I have no idea," he said. "Who's that?"

"He's one of my patients from New York."

Mark shook his head, pulling into a restaurant. "I'm sure it'll be okay," he said, "don't worry about it."

"Easy for you to say," she mumbled as Mark got out of the SUV.

GAGAGA 

Kevin Talon wondered around the hospital in a daze.

"Young man," a elderly voice called out. "You man, I must speak with you. I know you can hear me. Come here!"

Talon stopped and peeked in the nearest patient room. "Hello?"

"Yes, come here," the patient said, "it's about time."

"Mr. Carmarthen," Talon smiled, "no one told me you were here."

"Probably because you didn't ask, did you?"

Talon stopped. Why would he ask if one of patients from New York showed up? That would be a ridiculous question. He just smiled, "You're right. I didn't. My bad."

"Your bad, indeed," he huffed. "Listen, I want you to tell Emma . . ."

Mr. Carmarthen didn't think he'd make it through the brain surgery. He made Kevin write down all the things he wanted Emma to know before he died. Talon shook his head, the piece of paper folded safely in his pocket. This would break her – more than Derek, Addison, Mark, or himself leaving – more than Riggs dieing and more than Nigel never being around. She had sort of centered her life around Maddison and Mr. Carmarthen when everyone else was gone. He knew she'd even gone to New Jersey to visit with him. The residents of the home Mr. Carmarthen lived at loved to have Maddison over, being her cute little self. He told Talon how he and Emma would play checkers or she would read aloud for everyone.

Talon felt guilt for leaving her to help people in Africa – if that even made sense. He made the choice for all the wrong reasons that he knew. He had gone to Africa so he wouldn't have to watch Emma – still mourning her daughter's father and depressed her husband was never home.

He silently cursed himself for not stepping up earlier – hospital politics be damned!

He should apologize to her. As soon as he saw Emma, he was going to apologize to her.

He rounded the corner and saw Maddison standing there with Meredith Grey. "Hello, girls," he said, smiling.

"Hi, Talon," Maddison said, "where's Mommy?"

"Spending time with Uncle Mark," he said, "or so I heard. What are you doing?"

"Standing here," she said, smiling. "Can we go home?"

"Home?"

"Back to the pretty place," Maddison said as if Talon should know what she was talking about.

"Derek said they were staying at the Archfield," Meredith offered.

"Oh," he said, nodding, "yeah, I'm off work now, let's go."

"I'll let Derek know," Meredith said.

"I appreciate it," he said, picking Maddison up, "let's go, Poppet." She smiled at started singing a song – the melody was familiar but he was sure the words weren't right. "Does he need surgery," he asked.

Meredith shrugged, "we're still trying to figure it out. Do you want someone to call you?"

"Yeah," he said, "yeah, that would be good." He boosted Maddison up a little, causing her to giggle and left the hospital. He took a taxi to the hotel. He was kind of upset he didn't have some kind of booster seat for Maddison, but she was buckled in and snuggled in beside him. If there was an accident, though, Emma would kill him.

GAGAGA 

"Do you think Nigel will want to be involved with the baby," Emma asked, stabbing at her pasta. Mark set his fork down. "What?"

"I have two things to tell you," he said, "neither of which have to do with Nigel." She nodded, setting her own fork down and gesturing for him to go on. He nodded. "Alright, the first one will probably make you happy. I think I'm falling for Izzie Stevens."

"Oh," she said.

"What," he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I thought you were going to tell me something I didn't know," she told him, leaning back in her seat.

"How did you figure it out," he asked her.

"This morning," she said, "and the second thing?"

"What second thing?"

"The second thing you were going to tell me. Is it about Mr. Carmarthen?"

"Oh, _that_ second thing," he said, smiling, "no, it doesn't. The other day when you told me about the baby and Talon busted in the closet?"

"That wasn't really a question, but, yeah," she said, shaking her head.

"Talon and I talked after you stormed out," he said. Her phone rang. Emma sighed and answered it.

"No kidding? That's great," she said, listening to the other end of the line. "That's perfect. Thanks."

"Who was that?"

"The lawyer, as of ten minutes ago, I am a free woman."

"Good," Mark said, "because Talon is in love with you."

"Yeah," Emma said, amused. Mark was such an idiot sometimes.

"Yeah," he said, "like Derek and Meredith in love."

"Gag me," Emma said.

"What?"

"I said 'gag me' Mark. That's ridiculous. Talon and I are friends. We spent a lot of time together because we were always in the same hospital and stuff. He was my Resident. He's not in love with me."

"Says you," Mark scoffed, "you two picked different fields. He's in Ortho and you're in Cardio. Yet, you were always together." Emma sat there, deep in thought. Mark watched as the light of recognition lit up her eyes.

"Damn."

"Yeah," Mark said, picking up his food and eating.

"Damn."

**Alright, so I didn't expect that Mr. Carmarthen was going to be such a big part of this story. If fact, I feel as if I'm way off base to what I originally wanted. I do like the story, though, it won't let me alone. Which is good because you want me to finish it, right? Ha, ha. Hope you enjoy!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen 

It had been a long night. Richard didn't stay for Salvador Carmarthen's brain surgery because he had promised Adele . . . and he was afraid Emma might really kick his ass if he didn't go home. Adele took him home, _home_, and made him dinner. After which they had a very nice conversation although every few minutes Richard would alternately look at his watch or the phone.

"This isn't going to work, Richard," Adele said, "if you can't leave the hospital at the hospital."

"It's Emma's transfer from New York," he told her quietly, "he needs brain surgery. If he doesn't make it, Emma . . . well, Emma won't take it very well."

"I'm sorry, Richard, I didn't know," she said. "Is Emma at the hospital now?"

"No, I don't think so. Dr. Sloan, err, Mark, took her away from the hospital today. I'm not sure where she is."

Adele picked up her cell phone number. Seconds later she was talking. "Emma, honey, it's Adele. Where are you? Okay. Well, Richard was worried about you. Of course, honey." Adele stood in front of him and held out her cell phone. She gave him a small smile before walking out of the room.

"Emma?" 

"Richard, I'm fine," she said, "you shouldn't worry about me. Salvador. . .Salvador is a strong man. He'll make it through. Um, I'm celebrating. My divorce was finalized this afternoon."

"Congratulations," he offered, his voice cracking.

"Thanks, Richard," she said, "go enjoy your wife if she'll let you." She hung up. Richard set his wife's cell phone down and walked into the kitchen where she was pretending to do dishes.

He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her back into him as he kissed her neck. "Adele," he breathed, tightening his hold on her.

"Oh, Richard . . ."

**GAGAGAGA**

Derek looked up as Meredith walked into the OR. She stopped to have a nurse help her with her gloves and smock. "Maddison left with Dr. Talon," she said, moving to the other side of Mr. Carmarthen and holding her hand out for the suction tube.

"Did he take her back to the hotel," he asked. Meredith nodded. "Good. I'm almost done here. Do you see here where the tumor was cutting off blood to this part of the brain here. This one is what was most likely causing the headaches. . ." Three hours later, Derek finished closing Mr. Carmarthen up. He took off his surgical magnifying glasses. "We got it all out but we won't know how he is until he wakes up. I would do it know and check since we're here, but I'm not sure his heart can take it. Someone see him to recovery please, I have a phone call to make." Meredith nodded, giving orders. Derek smiled as people sprang into action.

He left the room and scrubbed out. Mr. Carmarthen had lived through his surgery. He went to his office to make a phone call. He had no idea what Emma was doing. But if something else was wrong with Mr. Carmarthen, he had a funny feeling his sister would blame him even though he had done his best. Maybe he wouldn't call her after all. He leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on his desk, and thinking about how funny his sister had been acting since she moved out to Seattle.

After a while, the door opened. Derek turned his head to see Meredith walk in. "How's he doing?"

"He hasn't woken up yet," she said coming around his desk to face him, "but his post ops look good." Derek nodded. "Derek?"

"Yeah," he said, looking at her.

"I know that Nancy doesn't seem to like me and Emma doesn't seem to have a problem with me – yet," she said, "but I was wondering if the rest of your family had . . . said . . . anything."

"Is that what's been bothering you today?"

She nodded.

"My mother likes you," he told her, smiling. "It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks but me, though. I'm the one with you – not my mother or my sisters. Me." He took his feet down off the desk and pulled Meredith into his lap. "And I happen to like you a whole lot."

"That's good to know," she giggled uncharacteristically before kissing him.

GAGAGA 

Mark followed Emma as she walked around the hotel. She had a goofy smile on her face since she repeatedly said "damn" at the restaurant and Mark suggested they go "home." Emma unlocked her hotel room door and walked in. "Wait," she said, "who has Maddison now?"

"I don't know," he said, pulling out his phone as it rang. "Hello? Yeah? Okay. We'll be by in a second," he said and then hung up his phone. "Kevin Talon has had Maddison most of the day. He's on the next floor up." He smiled. "Want me to take Maddison for a while?"

Emma smiled. "Sure, that would be great. I knew there was a reason I named her after you."

"You didn't name the kid completely after me," he protested.

"Well, after you and Addison," she said. "C'mon, we have to get upstairs."

Mark grabbed her arm gently. "You're going to have to tell Derek soon about . . . you know. Your mom and them are going to want to know soon, too. I can only imagine how they'll take this. Besides, Derek and I may be getting along but he might get upset if he knew that you told me before you told him. We're not talking hours or minutes, here, Emma."

Emma sighed. "Fine, I'll tell him tomorrow." Mark shook his head as they headed down the hallway. Mark knocked on the door and stood back. Talon opened the door, his cell phone pressed to his ear.

"She's sleeping," he whispered, "she's on the bed there. I have to take this call. See you both at work." Emma nodded numbly as Mark gathered her daughter in his arms. She followed Mark as he walked away. They stayed silent until they got to the elevator.

"You didn't stay to talk to him," Mark asked, holding Maddison to his chest. Emma shook her head. "Okay," he said, sighing.

They went back to Emma's room, Mark put Maddison on the bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mark, really. Why don't you get some sleep? It's been an exhausting day," she said. She walked with Mark to the door, smiling when he kissed her cheek good night and told her everything would work out. "Okay," she said.

"Seriously," he told her. Emma shook her head and closed the door, much to the amusement of her fake big brother. She went into the bathroom and changed into her pajamas after she washed up. She'd take a shower in the morning. She was going to need to find some daycare or something for Maddison. The girl needs stability.

"Mom," her daughter's small voice called out.

"Hey, Poppet," Emma said, coming out of the bathroom. "Were you sleeping?" 

Her daughter nodded, rubbing at her eyes. "Talon let me sleep on his bed," she said, smiling. Emma smiled back and sat down on the bed next to her daughter. Maddison climbed into her lap. "Mommy," Maddison said.

"Yes, Poppet," Emma replied, rubbing her daughter's arm.

"Talon likes us."

"Does he," Emma asked, amused.

"Yes," Maddison said. "Can Talon come live with us and Uncle Derek and Uncle Mark?"

"Why?" 

"When we leave here to move to the new place, Talon will be by himself," Maddison said. "Nigel isn't coming, is he?"

"No, honey, you don't ever have to see Nigel again." 

"Good," Maddison said, sighing, "good." Maddison fell asleep.

**GAGAGA**

Emma woke up to her cell phone going off. "Hello," she answered, drowsily.

"Hey," Derek greeted. "Have you met Izzie Stevens yet?"

"I don't know," Emma said, "which one is she?"

"Tall," he told her, "um, blonde, and, well, perky."

"Oh, her," Emma said, "yeah, at Meredith's house. Right?"

"Right," he said, breathing in a sigh of relief. "Well, she has off today and wanted to bake cookies and thought maybe Maddison would like to come over and help."

"Oh," Emma said, "well, that's very nice of her. Uh, yeah, okay. Can she meet us at the hospital?" She heard Derek turn away from the phone and ask Izzie. Emma smiled, her brother had stayed at Meredith's again.

"Yeah," Derek said, coming back on the line, "she can. Oh, and the Real Estate agent called last night. We can start moving in tomorrow."

"Great," Emma said, "I'll see you in a little bit." They hung up. Emma fell back on the bed and looked at the bedside alarm clock. 4:25 am. Derek must hate her. Suddenly, she remembered Salvador may or may not have had surgery the day before. She quickly got up and showered. Maddison was still asleep when she came back into the room. Packing a bag of Maddison things for the day, Emma continued to get herself ready for work.

Maddison slept through the entire ordeal. Emma wasn't sure if she should be thankful or not. The elevator opened. Talon stood there, bag over his right shoulder, and looking down.

"Morning," Emma said, quietly, stepping onto the elevator.

"Morning," he said, smiling at her. "So, where is Maddison staying today?"

"With Izzie Stevens," Emma said, quietly, as not to wake her daughter up. "Do you know anything about her?"

"Well, she's a surgeon," he replied, equally as quietly. "There are rumors that she killed a guy and then slept with a married man." He chuckled softly at the look on Emma's face. "They're just rumors, Emma," he said, "who suggested she look after Maddy today?"

"Derek."

"If Derek gives her the okay," Talon said, "then she's okay."

Emma shook her head. Of course she knew who Izzie Stevens was. She must be more tired then she thought to forget what Mark had told her. "I don't know what I'm worried about," she confessed, "she and Mark like each other. Maddy will be fine."

"Is Mark off today," Talon asked, smirking.

"No, he's meeting us at the hospital."

"Then Maddison is in good hands," he chuckled. "Mind if I catch a ride?"

Emma laughed. "You can sit in back with Maddison," she offered, smiling.

"Oh, like a chauffeured town car," he asked, sliding in back of the car when they reached the parking lot. "Well, then, onwards woman!"

Derek, Meredith, Mark, and Izzie Stevens met them in front of the hospital. "I'll just take her back to the house now, okay," Izzie said. "My car is over here." They watched as the two women walked back into the parking lot.

"So," Talon said, smiling as he watched them all sip their coffee, "Mark and Izzie, huh?"

It was priceless, watching them all spit their coffee out over the ground.

"I'm going to kill Emma for telling you that," Mark said, mopping at his shirt with a handkerchief.

"So, it's true," Derek asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, this is good. This is excellent. I'm so glad that I came into work today. Tell Emma I'll see her in Mr. Carmarthen's room," Derek told Talon, "I'm heading that way now."

"Me, too," Meredith quipped, quickly following her boyfriend.

"Have you told her you love her yet," Mark asked Talon when they were alone. Talon shook his head, no. "Good," Mark said, a triumphed smile on his face, "because I told her you did last night. Have a good day." Mark turned around and walked into the hospital.

Talon looked up as Emma came back towards the hospital. She smiled, noticing everyone else had left. "Where did everyone go?"

"Uh, your brother and his girlfriend went to Mr. Carmarthen's room and I have no idea where Mark went."

"Good," she said, hooking his arm with hers, "I think it's time we had a little chat before we get too busy."

**So, we're starting to get back on track – I think. I'm posting this even though I don't have the next chapter written, but no worries, it may take me a couple of days, but the story will go on! That sounded dorky didn't it? It did. That's alright. I'm a bit of a dork these days. There's a lot of emotional stuff planned for the next couple of chapters. I'm not sure if it's keep a box of tissues nearby emotional or not. But it probably wouldn't hurt. . .eventually. I'll let you know. ******


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay, so this took a while, because I really didn't know what needed to happening immediately so I just started writing. The next chapter might take a few days to get out, but the last section might make it easier to write. Hope you like it – M. Nichole**

**Chapter Sixteen**

When Kevin Talon finally got into the working part of his day, it was an emergency surgery for a man who had shattered both of his femurs in an accident in the woods. "Alright, I need a resident and some interns," he called out, "and we're going to need an OR."

"OR 3 is open," a nurse said, smiling at him.

"Alright, let's go," he called out, "who's my Resident?"

"Right here," a man said, rushing over, "I guess I'm the only one available."

"You'll do," Talon said, "you have any interns?"

"All of mine are busy," the man said. "Hey, you, a little help over here. Bring your friend, let's go."

"Alright, names people," Talon says, irritated, "I have to know what's going on."

"Alex Karev," the resident says.

"I'm Tabitha Banks and this is Josh Johnson."

"Fine, let's get this guy into surgery." It was going to be a long day.

**GAGAGA**

Emma found Derek in a conference room, typing away on his lap top. "Hey, Big Brother," she said, leaning against the doorway.

"Hey, Emma," he said, "come on in." He stopped typing long enough to pull the chair out beside him and indicate she should sit down. "I need to talk to you."

"What a coincidence," Emma laughed lightly, "I've been needing to talk to you."

"You first," he said, ceasing his typing and turning to face her as she sat down. "What's going on?"

"I have to tell you something and I'm not sure how you're going to take it," she admitted. "I know that you have a short temper but it's not necessarily a bad thing."

"Go on," Derek coaxed, smiling.

"I'm about. . .oh, seven or eight weeks along now. Addison ran a test while I was in LA."

"I see," Derek said, catching on surprisingly fast. "The child is Nigel's?"

"Yes," Emma sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"I just hate that question," Emma said. "Addison asked me, too. He was the one who cheated on me remember? I was the good, faithful wife while he was gallivanting around the world in search of the next conquest." She leaned back in her chair.

"Sorry," he said. "Are you going to . . .?"

"Keep it? I suppose so. I'm not a big fan of abortion if it can be helped. This isn't the baby's fault."

"But?"

"But," she continued, "I can't help but think that the baby will look like Nigel and it'll be like seeing him everyday. What if I end up hating my child because of him?"

"You won't," Derek said. "Have you told Mom yet?"

"No, it was bad enough telling you," she said, groaning. "They'll come back."

"Maybe not all of them," Derek said, leaning back in his own chair. "Did you pick an OB/GYN in Seattle yet?"

"No," she told him. "I plan on going to see Addison in LA until I can't travel anymore. She's going to try to be up here to deliver the baby. Maybe I could go to California once I'm on maternity leave and have the baby there."

"I'd rather you be here," Derek said, "so Mark and I can be with you. But, whatever you want to do. Just don't name _this_ baby after the both of them, alright?"

"I'll try. I haven't thought of names yet."

"So, word through the gossip mill is that you and Talon are getting together," Derek said, smiling.

"Geesh," Emma groaned. "Is that what you wanted to talk about? He told Mark that he loves me and then Mark told me - like we're high schoolers or something."

"You were never a normal high schooler though," he commented back. "If I remember correctly you were like ten or something."

"Whatever," she said, "anyway, we talked this morning, and we're going to try dating. Oh, and he might end up moving in. I'm not sure if it'll be in his own room or not."

"It's a good thing we got such a big house," Derek said. "If you're having a boy, Talon may end up on the couch." Emma just stared at him. "We only have five bedrooms, Emma." 

"Right," she said, laughing. "Alright, well, now I've told you, don't say anything to Mom until I'll call her later. I have a feeling she'll end up visiting sooner or later - sooner, knowing our luck, but whatever." She stood up. "I have to go check on Mr. Carmarthen. I'll see you later."

"Sure," he said, chuckling, "later." He had the sudden urge to go find Meredith, so he shut up his laptop and went to find her. He found her working with her interns in the clinic.

"George," she called out, "take care of bed four; the rest of you, following me to bed seven."

"What do you think you're doing," Miranda Bailey said, standing in front of Derek with her hands on her hips. "What are you doing in my clinic? Spying on Residents," she said, scoffing, "ought to be ashamed of yourself, fool. Get out of here, you can sniff her later."

"Dr. Bailey," Derek said.

"Don't you 'Dr. Bailey' me, Dr. Shepard," she said, stepping towards him. "Just because the Chief isn't coming in today, you don't get to have the run of the hospital. I have a clinic to run and I can't do it if you come down here to sniff Residents."

"Okay, Bailey, you win, I'm going," he said, putting his hands up in a surrender gesture and backing out of the clinic.

"Bailey won't let you see Meredith," Mark asked from the Nurse's station as Derek walked by. "The interns talk," he said in response to Derek's confused look.

"I see."

"No, you don't," Mark said simply, handing a chart off as his pager beeped at him. "See you later, Shep," Mark said, walking away. "Did Lil' Shep find you?"

"Yeah," Derek smiled, leaning against the counter. "She did."

"We'll talk later then," Mark said, rushing off. Derek nodded to himself.

"Good morning, Dr. Shepard," an intern said, walking behind the Nurse's station.

"Good morning, Dr. Grey," Derek said, "um, how are you?"

"Fine," she said, letting out a deep breath. "You and Meredith seem to be doing well."

"Yes," Derek smiled to himself, "I think we are." Cristina came up.

"Dr. Shepard," she said, "have you seen the other Dr. Shepard?"

"Yes, just a little while ago. I think she went to see Mr. Carmarthen," he said. "Did you need her for something in particular?"

"A consult," she answered carefully, "c'mon, Three."

"Of course, Dr. Yang."

Derek raised his eyebrow in the direction of the retreating Cristina Yang and Lexie Grey. What was going on now? _God_, he thought, _and the day just started_.

It was going to be a long day.

GAGAGA 

Cristina Yang found Emma Shepard in Salvador Carmarthen's room. She sat on a chair with her feet propped up at the end of his bed and the two of them were talking quietly. Cristina knocked on the door twice and stepped in. "Uh, Dr. Shepard?"

"One moment, Dr. Yang," Emma said quietly, pushing the chair back. She stood up and smiled at Salvador, pulling his blanket up before walking out of the room. "How can I help you, Dr. Yang," Emma said, closing the door behind her, causing the three of them (Emma, Cristina, and Lexie) to stand in the hallway.

"Mr. Carmarthen's overnight and early morning lab results are back. I thought you would like to see them," Cristina replied, handing over a folder.

"Thank you," Emma said, quietly, accepting the folder. "Anything else?"

"I have a patient that was bounced up from the pit," she replied, handing over a chart. "I wanted to know what you thought."

Emma flipped the folder open and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

GAGAGA 

Izzie Stevens and Maddison Shepard-Riggs were baking cookies in the kitchen when there was a knock on the backdoor. "Oh, Dr. Sloan," Izzie said, opening the door. "What are you doing here?"

Izzie was knocked aside as Maddison ran past her and into Mark's arm. He smiled and twirled her around before giving her a big hug. "Hey, Munchkin, what's up?"

"Me," the child replied cheekily.

Mark laughed. "Can I come in?"

"Of course, Dr. Sloan," Izzie said, stepping back and opening the door wider.

"Mark," he said, walking past her and putting Maddison's feet back on the floor.

"What?"

"My name is Mark, Izzie," he said, staring at her. " I though we established this." He turned from her as Maddison pulled his hand into the living room. "You and Izzie drew these? They're great."

Izzie walked into the living room and leaned against doorway, watching Mark and Maddison sit cross-legged on the floor looking at pictures at the coffee table. She had only seen him this nice to people when he was talking to patients or Emma. She smiled, watching him interact with Maddison, caring what the little girl had to say.

"And this is my little brother," Maddison said, pointing to the picture.

"I thought that was your Mom," Mark said, pulling the little girl in his lap.

"Yeah, but he's in Mommy," Maddison explained smiling.

"Oh, and who told you that you were getting a little brother," Mark asked, trying not to laugh. Emma was going to be so mad that someone told Maddison.

"No one, Uncle Mark," she said, as if it were obvious, "I had a dream. Izzie has a dream."

"What does Izzie dream," Mark asked, his interested piqued.

"Okay, who wants a cookie," Izzie asked. "Maddison, why don't you help me?"

It was going to be a long day.

GAGAGA 

Callie O'Malley, Chief Resident, was hiding in her office. She kept looking towards the door of the connecting bathroom as if it was some kind of mistake, some kind of nightmare. Hell, the last couple of months have been a nightmare.

Emma Shepard knocks on the door twice and walks into the Chief Resident's office.

"Dr. O'Malley," Emma questioned. "Dr. Grey told me you wanted to see me."

"Yes," Callie said, clearing her throat nervously. "Please, have a seat." Emma raises her eyebrows at her and sits down across from her. "This, um, actually doesn't have anything to do with the hospital, so feel free to leave whenever you want." Callie waited, hoping that Emma wouldn't leave. "Normally, I would tell Addison this, but. . ."

"Addison is in LA," Emma supplied, helpfully with a small smile. Callie nodded. "Are you okay, Dr. O'Malley?"

She took a deep breath and let her head rest against the wall behind her. "My husband, George, spent the night with Izzie Stevens a few weeks ago," Callie said, not daring to look at Emma. She just needed to talk, to get it out – god, did she need to talk to someone. "He confessed and we fought. A lot. We're getting a divorce," Callie continued, "we haven't actually talked about the option, exactly, but if I'm not good enough for him, I'm not sticking around just to make the two of us miserable." Callie paused before continuing, causing Emma's mind to wonder.

What should she say to the other doctor? Addison would be no help, because in Addison's situation, she would be George. Mark would be Izzie, which was humorous if it was to be mulled over, but Emma stopped herself from smiling. Derek would be Callie and Emma highly doubted that Callie was interested in running to the other side of the country. . .or maybe.

Emma, of course, knew what Callie was going through. Of course, she didn't have to worry about her cheating husband's offspring like she did. Her hands went instinctively to her stomach, already worrying about having to tell her Mother and Nigel.

Callie started laughing, lifting her head up and looking at Emma. "Do you want to know what kicker is? I'll tell you. George and I are getting a divorced and I'm about eight weeks pregnant. Isn't that great? It's just freaking fantastic, isn't it?"

Okay, so Emma knew exactly what Callie was going through.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen 

Emma wasn't sure what to say. "Well, since we're both without Addison," Emma said, a small smile on her face, "we'll just have to get through this together. I'm about seven or eight weeks along."

"Well," Callie said, "I wasn't quite expecting that."

Emma smiled wider. "Neither was I. Are you okay?" Callie nodded, taking a deep breath. "So Stevens, huh," Emma asked. Callie nodded again. "Crap."

"What's wrong?"

"She's watching Maddison today."

"Just because she's a murderer and an adulteress," Callie said, "doesn't mean you need to worry about Maddison. She's good with kids."

"She really did kill someone," Emma asked, concerned.

"There was this patient," Callie explained with a sigh, "a cardio patient. No one is entirely sure what happened. Not for certain, anyway. They fell in love or so she said. He proposed to her as she was taking him off the LVAD. They were able to get him a heart and save him, but it was a close call. He died the night of Prom. It was a free floating blood clot in his brain, as I understand it. It may not have happened that way, but no one's talking so that's what I know."

Emma nodded, not sure if the explanation made her feel better or not. One thing was for certain, Emma wasn't letting Izzie Stevens or George O'Malley into her OR for a long time to come.

"You're staying at the Archfield, right?"

"Yes," Callie said, smiling.

"What time does your shift end?"

"About seven," Callie told her.

"Here's my room number," Emma said, writing it down, "we should get together tonight and trade tragic life stories."

"Sounds like a plan," Callie told her, "I'll pick up some sparkling grape juice or something. We can pretend."

"I like the way you think, Dr. O'Malley," Emma said as Dr. Miranda Bailey opened the door. "I have patients to check on," she continued. "I'll talk to you later."

"Later," Callie said. "What's up, Miranda?"

**GAGAGA**

Maddison fell asleep on the couch so Mark and Izzie were in the kitchen, having coffee and talking.

"Why didn't we ever do this before," Izzie asked, pouring them both another cup of coffee.

"Because I'm an ass and you usually yell at me," Mark answered truthfully.

"Oh, right," she said.

"And, you've been busy lately making goo-goo eyes at George O'Malley."

Izzie almost spilt her whole cup of coffee on herself.

"Just because you didn't realize it," Mark said, "doesn't mean that everyone doesn't know." Mark put some sugar into his coffee and stirred it. "Look, Stevens," he said, "I like you. I'm pretty sure I do, anyway. I'd like to get to know you better, you know, spend some time along, but we can't do that if your hung up on another woman's husband."

"Izzie."

"Huh?"

"My name is Izzie, Mark."

Mark nodded. "I think I'm going to take Maddison back to the hotel. We all move into the house soon. I'm sure there's stuff to be done. I think the hotel is causing Emma to go stir crazy." Izzie nodded as Mark finished off his coffee and went to get Maddison. Izzie was still sitting at the table when Mark came back in, a sleeping Maddison in his arms and her bag over his shoulder.

"I'll see you later," he said. She nodded again. Mark sighed and left, thankful he had grabbed the booster seat from Emma before he left.

**GAGAGA**

Emma was glad to finally be away from the hospital. Derek was going over to Meredith's house for the night. Maddison was already asleep for the night and staying in Mark's room. She had only just changed into some comfortable clothes when there was a knock on the door. "Oh, hell, what now," Emma whispered to herself. A look through the peephole showed Callie O'Malley.

"Oh, hey," Emma said as she opened the door.

"Hi," Callie said, "we still on for tonight? We can do this another time."

"Now is fine," Emma said. "I can't figure out if I'm tired from work or being pregnant." They went into the living room of the Suite, Callie slipping her shoes off as they went. "Have you talked to George since we talked earlier," Emma asked.

Callie nodded. "I'm filing divorce papers tomorrow."

"Did you tell him you're pregnant," she asked carefully.

"I did, yes."

"How did that go," Emma asked.

"He seems really happy about it," Callie said. "He wants to be there for everything and be there for the baby, if I let him. I figured something out when I was talking to George."

"What's that," Emma asked, smiling.

"We weren't ever in love," Callie told her. "We cared for each other, maybe even loved each other, but we weren't ever _in_ love."

GAGAGA

TWO WEEKS LATER

Derek Shepard sat down heavily beside his sister, Emma, in the cafeteria. Although it was mostly weird to have her here, it was days like today that he was glad she was. Mark Sloan wouldn't have understood. He watched as his sister looked up from her book and stared at him.

"What," he asked after a moment.

"You're miserable," she said simply, going back to her book, her tray of food pushed away from her.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Why," she asked, not looking up.

"Meredith doesn't want anything to do with me again," he sighed, picking at the food on her plate. "I've had to start dating."

"Who?"

"Um, I have a date with Sydney tonight," he said, sheepishly.

"The 'do you have Shepards in her lineage' chick," Emma asked, amused. Derek nodded, causing Emma to shake her head.

"What?"

"You told Meredith that you would wait for her," she reminded him.

"Yeah, I did. And?"

"And, Derek, you aren't very good at waiting," she told him. "You aren't even trying now."

"I'm just supposed to sit here and shrivel away," he asked her, pushing the tray away from him.

"You told her you would wait," Emma insisted, closing her book and leaning back in her chair as she looked up. "So, wait."

"I also brought up the fact that I might find someone who will give me the things that she won't," Derek argued, leaning forward on the table, his hand propping up his head by his chin.

"And this Sydney person gives you all the things Meredith Grey won't?"

"I don't know," Derek said, thoughtfully, "I guess I'll have to find out." Emma shook her head. "What now?"

"You're miserable," Emma said again, "and this time, _this time_, Derek, it _is_ your fault. You should wait it out."

"I don't get it. You got married at a young age. How come Meredith just can't be ready? It would make life so much easier," he asked.

"Yes, I was married at a young age and look how well that turned out," she countered. "You and Meredith, you two are what everyone else strives for. The two of you are just too blind to see it. So, go on your date with Sydney or whoever you find, if that's what you want," she told him, "but don't expect me to be nice to any of them. And don't expect Meredith to stick around if you're dating half the hospital." Emma picked up her book and left, giving her brother an affectionate ruffle of his perfect hair.

Derek sighed, laying his head on the table. Moments later, he sat up. Emma was right. But that didn't mean that he was going to listen to her. . .yet.

**Alright, so I'm breaking a promise with this one. I said I wouldn't post anything under 2,000 words, but I've come up with an idea that can go into the next chapter. So, instead of subjecting you to mindless fluff I will stop here and start again with the next chapter which takes place three months after. **

**PS – If anyone read "after the fact" this last part was the first chapter. Just in case you were wondering.**


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  
**

**THREE MONTHS LATER**

"Being five months pregnant sucks," Callie Torres said, laying down on a couch in her office.

"It'll be worse when we're nine months," Emma Shepard told her, causing Callie to groan. Emma smiled at her newest best friend. They had talked to Richard, making it easier for the two of them to fly down to see Addison together. Although Callie kept her Chief Resident title, Miranda Bailey was doing most of the work. Emma didn't think the situation was quite fair, she and Miranda had become pretty close - bonding over their children, but Miranda didn't seem to mind.

"Did Kevin get to New York okay," Callie asked, flipping through a baby magazine.

Emma smiled. She only ever called Talon by his first name around Callie. "Yeah, Kevin called this morning. Flight was fine. He'll be there for a week." Emma sighed and rolled her head around to try and release the tension in her neck. "God, I hate being pregnant!"

Callie smirked. "I know the feeling."

"I promised Miranda that I would help in the clinic," Emma said, standing up. "I have never been so glad that Richard hired someone to take my job."

"At least you and Erica Hahn get along," Callie commented, flipping the page.

"Yeah, I'd rather be doing research than running a wacked out cardio department, anyway," Emma said. "Maddison deserves more of my time before the baby comes. I'll be down in the clinic if you need anything." After they both promised to call if they needed anything, Emma left Callie's office and went down the hall to the elevator.

"Dr. Shepard," Alex Karev greeted, his interns standing around him.

"Dr. Karev," Emma returned the greeting. "How is Norman doing in Psyche?"

"I hear he's doing very well," Alex answered as the elevator door opened. Emma nodded, slightly disappointed with the answer. "We're going to check on Mr. Carmarthen if you're interested."

"No, thank you," Emma said, "I'm on my way to the clinic. Send Salvador my best." Alex and his suck-ups got off the elevator on the fourth floor, making room for both McDreamy and McSteamy. "And how are my two favorite testosterone driven doctors," she asked, smiling.

"Dating," Derek answered, tersely.

"Fine, oh and I'm dating, too," Mark said, smiling, "just one person though. How is my favorite pregnant Attending?"

"There's more than one pregnant Attending," Emma joked. Mark just looked at her. "Really? Who?"

"You are such a gossip," Mark said, pulling her back into him and rubbing a hand over her extended abdomen.

"Hell, Mark, get a room already," Derek snapped.

"What the Hell is wrong with you," Emma asked, stepping out of Mark's embrace. "You've been ouchy forever."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, flipping open the chart in his hand. Emma rolled her eyes and groaned. "What?"

"You're so freaking pathetic," Emma said. "You're just a whiny, pathetic excuse for a romantic son-of-a-bitch."

"What," Derek asked, irked. What did his sister know, anyway?"

"You told her you would wait, idiot," Emma snapped. "You told her you would wait and then you go on a date with a nurse and then another and then that crazy, cheerful Sydney woman. I told you when all of this started that I would support your decision, whatever it may be, just not to expect me to like anyone you date. I _like_ Meredith. You're good for each other. She needs you just as much as you need her. You just want to rush to the alter. Knock it off, go back and apologize, so you can enjoy the freaking ride," Emma said, stepping off the elevator as they stopped on the first floor. "I'll be in the clinic if anyone needs me."

Mark and Derek looked at each other. "Guess she told you, Shep," Mark said, stepping off the elevator too. Derek groaned and leaned against the elevator wall.

Emma entered the Denny DueQuette Memorial Clinic angrily. "What's wrong with you," Miranda Bailey asked.

"Stupid, miserable brother," Emma spat, reaching for a chart.

"Do you want to take a minute to calm yourself," Miranda asked, keeping the chart out of her reach. Emma took two calming, deep breaths. "That's better," she said, "bed five, if you don't mind. Oh, wait, did you find out what you're having?"

"A boy," Emma smiled. "And just so you know, I'm finally okay with having Nigel's baby, even if he's a McAss."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that," she said, smiling.

"Thanks," Emma said, walking off. "Alright, Mr. Rowe, my name is Dr. Shepard. It says here you have a broken wrist. Let's have a look." The man, in his mid-forties, dutifully held out his arm. "Okay, well, there's no puncture, that's good. I want to get an x-ray before we try anything else today. It'll only take a couple of hours and we'll get you out of here. Alright?"

"You say alright a lot," he commented.

"It's one of those days," she said, causing the patient to smile. He smiled back. "Alright, I'll have someone come over and take you for an x-ray. It'll be a moment." He smiled again and nodded.

"Bed Four needs an x-ray before we do anything else," Emma said, handing the chart to the nurse. "What else do you have for me?"

"Dr. Bailey is taking care of Bed One," the nurse said, "but Bed Four needs to be looked at." Emma took the chart and thanked the nurse.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Shepard, you must be Cody," Emma said, smiling at the little boy.

"I'm Cathy, his mom," a nervous woman said. "Cody's had a minor accident."

"Yeah? What happened," Emma asked, taking the flashlight out of her pocket to check the young boy's pupils.

"He was at the neighbor's house, playing on the trampoline and fell," she explained. "I rushed him right over." Emma nodded, checking him over.

"I seem to have a thing for bones and sprains today," Emma smiled. "Let's see what we're going to need." Miranda started getting loud at the next bed over.

"Sir," Miranda said, "you need to stay still so I can check your arm. Sir! I need you to calm down, I. . ."

Emma stood up. "I'm going to send an intern over to take you for your tests and then we'll get you fixed up. Just sit tight here." She walked over to the next bed. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, he started freaking out," Miranda said. "Stay back, he's kicking," she said, trying to grab his foot.

"He's going to need to be sedated," a nurse said. "I'll be right back." Emma took the charts from the nurse who ran off. Setting them down on a table, she rushed over to grab the man's arm. He had been trying to pull the lamp off of the table beside him.

"Sir, knock it off," Emma said.

"I told you to get back," Miranda told her.

"I know," Emma said, "like I listen." Miranda scoffed. "Hell, what's wrong with him?"

"No idea," Miranda said. "We aren't going to be able to run tests until he's sedated."

"Cody, stay back," Emma shouted. The boy in the next bed had gotten out of bed and was making his way over as if he was going to help. "Cody," she shouted again, rounding the bed, to pull him back. "Where is his mother? Where. . .?"

"Emma, calm down," Miranda said, rushing to her side. If she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes, she wouldn't have believed that the man's foot had connected so soundly with Emma's stomach. Emma immediately doubled over after pushing the offending appendage away.

"Cody, get away from there," Cathy yelled, pulling her son away from the fray.

"I need a stretcher and a OB/GYN," Miranda yelled. "Someone page Shepard, Sloan, Torres, and the Chief. Get a move on!" Miranda put her arm around Emma and tried to keep her upright. "Everything is going to be fine, Emma," she said. "Take deep breaths. We're going to have some tests run. Karev," she barked, "get her own that gurney now." Alex nodded, picking her up and getting her on the gurney.

"We're going to keep you on your back," he said to Emma. "What happened?"

"She was kicked by a patient," Miranda said as the nurse came back with a sedative. "Get the fool drugged up and into a room where he can't hurt anyone else."

"Anyone else," the nurse asked, administrating the sedative. She looked at Emma and blanched. "I should have sent her to get the sedative."

"Go with her," Miranda ordered. "I want updates every fifteen minutes." The nurse nodded as Alex pushed the gurney out of the clinic. "Lord help you if Shepard and Sloan find out she lost that baby," Miranda said to the sedated man.

GAGAGA

The elevator doors closed and Emma started to breath heavily. "You, make sure she stays down," he said to one of the interns. "I have to exam you," he said, "to find out what's going on."

"Do it," she yelled. He nodded and moved the blanket around and pulled down her scrub pants. "What?"

"There's bleeding," he said, laying the scrubs down on the gurney and covering her back up. "You're probably going to need surgery." Emma sighed, laying her head back and closing her eyes. "Damn elevator," he cursed, "let's go."

GAGAGA

Derek was talking to a patient's family when his pager went off. _ROOM 4658 - EMMA - 911_. Derek looked at his pager, confused. There was no way she was having that baby at only five months. "I'm sorry," he said, "I have an emergency. Dr. Grey will fill you in." He nodded at Lexie Grey who stepped forward and began talking with the family. Derek rushed off to the elevator, finding Mark Sloan already standing there, tapping his foot impatiently. "I'm taking the stairs," Derek said after five seconds. Mark nodded and followed them.

GAGAGA

Callie Torres was on the phone, making arrangements with Mercy West for the transfer of an intern who wasn't able to hack it. "I think he will make a great surgeon someday," Callie insisted, "he just doesn't seem to be doing so well in a big program." Callie looked down at her pager. _ROOM 4658 – EMMA – 911_. "Trevor, can I call you later? Great. Thanks." Callie hung up the phone and looked at her pager again. The message hadn't changed – she had seen it right the first time.

She ran into Chief Webber on the fourth floor. "Did you get a page?"

He nodded. "Know what this is about," he asked. She shook her head no. They rushed into the room.

The room was in chaos. Emma was screaming for Derek, who had left to get Addison and Talon on the phone. Mark was trying to calm her down. "Someone do an ultrasound, dammit," she yelled.

"I got it," Callie said, rushing forward, "out of my way."

GAGAGA

Meredith, Cristina, and Izzie were sitting in the hallway on the gurneys.

"George isn't talking to me again," Izzie complained.

"Derek is dating," Meredith stated.

"You two are idiots," Cristina said. They both looked at her.

"You," she pointed at Meredith, "have had McDreamy since Day One. So, he was married, get over it. He's not now. You're being all crazy so he's dating. Make yourself available and he'll drop every other woman he comes in contact with."

"Not Emma."

"Sisters don't count," Izzie said.

Cristina nodded. "And you," she pointed at Izzie, "have McSteamy wrapped around your little finger. I have no idea how you did it. Don't worry so much about George. He got a divorce. He's dating a nurse. Focus on McSteamy and don't worry about it." She leaned back against the wall.

"What about you," Meredith asked.

"What about me?"

"Well, the two of us have someone," Izzie said, "sort of. . .and you're just kind of. . .there."

"Don't worry about me, either," Cristina said, "I'm taken care of."

"You're seeing someone?"

"Not exactly."


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Derek rushed back into the room. "Addison can't do much from L.A. but she's already on her way here," he told Mark. "I couldn't get Talon on the phone."

"Derek," Emma whimpered, "Derek, get them out of here. There are too many people. Make them leave. Derek, make them go away."

"Alright, nothing to see here," Richard said, taking charge, "everyone get out. We'll update everyone later. Go." He looked over to Callie who had been doing the ultrasound. She shook her head. "Emma, I'm going to send Bailey up," he said, "would that be okay?" She nodded. "Alright, I'll be around later." She nodded again, trying to curl up in a ball. Mark and Derek stopped her.

The new Neo-Natal attending, Carmen Loduca, came in, Miranda Bailey in tow. "Okay, Dr. Shepard," she said, "we need to run some tests, but I'd prepare myself for the worst."

GAGAGA

Derek paced outside of Emma's room. She had lost the baby. In a split second, everything had fallen apart. Mark sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, watching Derek. Mark had called Addison, to let her know, and Addison told him she was coming up anyway – her _sister_ needed her. Talon still wasn't answering his phone, but Mark left a detailed message: "_Call me back on my cell._"

Richard was in his office, not to be disturbed. Callie was also in her office, doing "paperwork" leaving Alex Karev to watch over Emma's recovery since Miranda was keeping herself busy in the clinic.

She was sleeping when Karev sent Mark and Derek to go get some food or something. He was sitting there doing his charting when one of his interns walked in. "Dr. Karev," she said, timidly, "there's someone here, claiming to be the patient's husband."

"Husband," he asked. "Well, she's divorced. Tell him she's not allowed to have visitors." He went back to his paperwork. The intern came back.

"He's insistent," she said, standing at the doorway. "He, uh, he has a . . . a gun." She stumbled forward and a man appeared behind her, leveling the gun at Karev. He watched as the gunman – was he really the patient's husband? – stepped over his intern and walked into the room. He watched gratefully as the intern inched back and stayed on the ground until she got to the doorway where she got up and ran – quietly.

"What do you want," Karev asked, standing up.

"I want my wife and my child," he said, slurring his words.

_Great_, Karev thought, _a drunk man with a gun – that's always a good combination_.

"This is your wife," Karev asked, gesturing towards Emma. The man nodded. "She's divorced. She told me herself. And she's lost the baby, that's why she's in the hospital."

"No," the man said. "She went off to live with her dumbass brother. She works here. I know she does. Get her out of the bed."

"She needs to rest . . . to heal," Karev said, getting angry. _Dumbass drunk guys think they knew everything_, he thought angrily.

"She only needs me," he said, slurring his words more as he stood there. "She just doesn't know it. Ever make a mistake, Doctor, that you couldn't fix?"

Karev thought about Ava, who he hadn't been able to get to come to the phone and nodded. "I made a mistake," the drunken man said, "I made a mistake and slept with someone else."

"It's been my experience," Karev said, "that sleeping with someone isn't usually a mistake; it's a conscious decision even if you're drunk."

"Shut UP," the man yelled, waving his gun around. "Sit down and shut up." Karev sat down. He knew if anything happened to Emma, Shepard and Sloan would probably kill him – but only after Callie Torres buried him alive. He needed to get the man out of the room. He looked at the doorway. The door had been left over a crack. He tried to keep the surprised look off of his face as he saw a policeman peek around the door.

The policeman saw him and raised a finger to his lips, telling the doctor to keep quiet. Karev just blinked and turned back to the man with a gun. "So, you're Nigel Carter, huh? The famous photographer?"

"You've heard of me," the man asked, sounding pleased. Karev nodded, to appease him. Of course, the only thing he had ever heard had been from Sheppard and Sloan who had bad mouthed the man constantly since Emma had shown up months ago.

Speaking of the mini-Shepard, Karev noticed she was waking up. Of course she was, because she couldn't just sleep through this whole ordeal - that would be _too_ easy.

"What the Hell," Emma asked. "Nigel, what are you doing in Seattle?" Nigel turned and pointed the gun at her. "Oh, _please_, a gun? That's the best you can do? I am from New York, you know, guns don't scare me."

"Come to take you back," Nigel squawked. Karev noticed the man was having a hard time standing. He looked to Emma, who nodded. Not sure if it was going to work, or if they were both actually thinking the same thing, Karev moved around the edge of the room so Nigel's back was facing him. He nodded to Emma.

"I don't want to go anywhere with you. How did you know I was here anyway?"

"Talon."

"What were you doing talking to him," Emma asked indignantly. _Oh, that man is _so _going to pay_.

"Need to find you," Nigel said, his arm starting to sag. "Need baby."

"Yeah, well, some dumbass in the clinic kicked me and I lost the baby. And, we're divorced," Emma said, feeling the need to yell at Nigel like there was no tomorrow. "What do you think you're doing coming after me? You can be such a moron. Go back to your supermodels."

"No supermodels," Nigel said, brokenly, "you."

"No," Emma spat, "not me. Go away. I don't want to talk to you."

That seemed to upset Nigel, who took a step forward. Karev took his chance and charged him, throwing the gun to the floor and kicking it away as he tackled Emma's ex-husband to the floor. The police rushed in – Derek, Mark, and Richard behind them.

"Is everyone okay," Richard asked. "How did a man with a gun get into _my _hospital? Emma, are you okay? Karev, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Karev said, dusting himself off.

"Just get him out of here," Emma said, looking angry.

"I'm going to find Callie," Mark said, "tell her that you're okay. I'll call Addison and Talon, too. Alright?" Emma nodded. Mark leaned forward and kissed her cheek before rushing out of the room.

"Emma," Derek said, his face red from crying, "tell me you're okay." 

"I'm okay," she said, smiling a little. Derek nodded and sat at the edge of her bed as Richard told Karev to go get checked over before returning to work.

"I should have been here," Derek said, brushing a strand of his sister's crazy hair out of her eyes. "I should have been here to protect you. I should have been in the clinic to pull you away. I should have. . ."

"You can sit here all night, Derek, and go through every 'should have' you can think of," Emma told him. "It's not going to change anything. Just sit here until Callie or Addison arrives." Derek nodded and moved to be beside her, laying there, just watching her like he'd never let her out of his sight again.

"Is everything alright in here," Erica Hahn asked, walking past the police who were handcuffing Nigel.

"Everything's fine," Emma said, patting her brother's hand. "Thanks for coming to check on me." 

"Going to have a breakdown, Shepard," Erica asked the Head of Neuro. He shook his head, laughing a little. "Good. I was on my way to surgery," she said, "I'll check on you later." Emma nodded as Erica left.

"Richard," Emma said, everything is fine. "Adele still has Maddison, right?" Richard nodded. "Okay, Callie is on her way here from her office. Addison is on her way here from LA. Anyone know what Talon's doing? He doesn't have to drop everything and come back, but I wanted . . . does anyone know?"

"I'm going to call Travers," Richard said. "No one can get Talon on his cell, so I'll call the hospital. Travers would want to know anyway, right?" Emma nodded.

"Derek," Emma whispered as Richard left the room, "will you call Mom and tell her? I don't. . .I don't think I could."

"Yeah," Derek said. "I should call her anyway," he said. "I'll, uh, I'll be back."

Emma smiled as her brother left the room. All the police were outside her room. She turned to Alex Karev. "Thank you."

"You're my patient," he said. "Okay, so I was pretty sure I'd get my ass kicked if anything happened to you," he conceded when Emma just stared at him. "Plus, you're a pretty kick ass surgeon and I figured you could favor me for a while since I saved your life and get me into some surgeries."

"That's better," Emma said as Callie came in. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later," he mumbled, leaving the room.

"Oh my god, they told me what happened. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Callie, come sit down before you have some sort of panic attack." Callie crossed the room and sat down on the empty chair. "Callie," Emma said, "I'm fine."

"You lost the baby," Callie said, her hand resting on her own swollen abdomen.

"I lost the baby," Emma confirmed. "And then Nigel came. Seeing him again, well, it's made me think losing the baby was for the best. You know? Now I have no connections to the cheating bastard."

"I have to talk to George," Callie said suddenly, standing up. "I, uh, I have to tell him you're okay." Emma nodded as Callie rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Emma was pretty sure that the conversation would have nothing to do with her.

Finally alone, Emma leaned back into her pillows and wept for the loss of her unborn son.

**GAGAGA**

Chief of Surgery Kyle Travers was operating. He wasn't sure Dr. Kevin Talon was going to make it through. He had been hit by a taxi and had stayed conscious long enough to tell the paramedics which hospital to take him to.

The phone rang in the Operating Room. One of the scrub nurses standing nearby picked up the phone. "Hello? Yes. He is, yes. He's operating right now. What happened? Oh, let me check," she said and then lowered the phone so the person on the other end of the line couldn't hear her. "Chief Travers, there's a Chief Webber from Seattle on the phone. He wants to talk to you about Dr. Car . . . Emma."

Travers nodded. "Colleen, take over for me here. Scott, cauterize as she goes along. I'll be back in a moment." He took off his bloody gloves and walked over to the other side, taking the phone from the nurse. "Chief Travers," he said.

"Kyle, it's Richard. Do you know where Kevin Talon is? I can't get him to answer his phone."

Kyle sighed. "Richard, he's open on my operating table at the moment. He's been hit by a taxi. We're working on him now . . . but we're not sure if. . ."

He heard Richard gasp. "Okay. You can tell me more in a minute. I was calling to tell Talon that Emma was attacked – sort of – she was helping in the clinic and a patient kicked her. She, uh, she lost the baby." Kyle sighed. "Then, Nigel Carter showed up with a gun. Everyone's okay, Nigel's been arrested. Emma wanted Talon to know. She said that he isn't to drop everything and come back to Seattle." Richard laughed. "Like that's even possible at the moment. Tell me what's going on."

"There are some broken bones and some bleeding. We aren't sure of the extent of his injuries quite yet. I'll keep you updated, Richard."

"Alright."

"And Richard," Travers said.

"Yeah, Kyle?"

"Don't tell Emma yet. Give me some time before you tell her."


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

Addison Montgomery rushed from the terminal to baggage claim where she waited irritably for her bags to go by. "She'll be okay," Pete Wilder told her, taking her hand in his.

"She's not going to be okay anytime soon," Addison growled, "she just lost a child. You don't just get over that." Pete nodded, knowing it was not the time to get into a fight with his pseudo-almost girlfriend. Addison sighed. "I'm sorry, Pete, I don't mean to take this out on you. It's just . . . it's stress. This is a stressful situation and I don't know how to act. I don't know what to do."

"Just be there for her," Pete said. "Everything will be fine in time. Okay, no worries." Pete grabbed their bags and went to go find a rental car. Addison was quickly becoming a wreck. He figured that should at least be at the hospital before she crashed.

Almost an hour later, they finally reached the hospital. Alex Karev met them in the lobby with a copy of Emma's chart. "Dr. Montgomery," he greeted her. She smiled back at him and accepted the chart. "She's upstairs," Karev said and walked off. Addison and Pete followed him. Some of the nurses stopped her as they went by, just to say hello. Addison greeted them distractedly and continued to follow Karev, Pete's hand at the small of her back.

"Addison," Mark and Derek said at the same time, standing in front of the nearby nurse's station.

"Hey," she said. "Um, Pete, this is Dr. Mark Sloan and Dr. Derek Shepard. Mark, Derek, this is Dr. Pete Wilder."

"Plastics," Mark said, sticking out his hand.

"Neuro," Derek said, copying Mark.

"Uh, Alternative," Pete said, smiling.

"Oh," the both of them said.

"Knock it off," Addison said, "where's Emma? Is Talon with her?"

"We aren't sure where Talon is," Derek said, "but Emma's in this room over here." Derek walked over; Addison followed him. They both heard crying. "She must have just started crying," Derek said, pushing the door open further and walking in. Addison followed him and shut the door behind her.

Mark stared at Pete, who stared back in turn. Mark had a good six inches in height over the Alternative Medicine Quack. "So, you and Addison," Mark said, sticking his hands in his pocket.

"Yes," Pete said, raising an eyebrow at the plastic surgeon. "And you and. . ."

"Yes," Mark said, "at one point. Listen, I don't want you getting the wrong idea, but Addison deserves someone great. Don't. . ."

"You don't have to worry about me," Pete said. "By the way, while we're in town, keep your. . ."

"Gotcha," Mark said, raising his hands in mock surrender, "I better go check on some things while Emma's distracted." Pete just nodded and watched the man leave. Addison hadn't told him all about her past, but enough to know what to expect from these people while they were in Seattle.

"Pete," Addison said, peeking out Emma's room, "she wants to see you. Come on." Pete smiled at her and went into the young girl's room.

"Derek, why don't you check on Salvador for me," Emma said, when Pete walked in. "Let him know what happened. I'll try to see him later on."

"You aren't supposed to be out of bed," he reminded her, standing up. "I'll go check on him and get some other things done. Page me if you need anything." 

"Of course," she said as he kissed the top of her head. "And call Adele and check on Maddison. Oh, and tell Erica that Sumner in 3899 needs his medication soon. I reduced the dosage . . ."

"Stop," Derek said, chuckling, "we'll take care of it." He waved to everyone as he left.

"So, who threatened you first, Pete," Emma said, smiling, although her eyes were puffy from her recent crying jag.

"What," Addison asked.

"One of them threatened you," Emma said, smiling. "Derek was in here pretty fast so I bet it was Mark. What did he say?" 

"Just that Addison is great and that I shouldn't screw with her," Pete said, leaning back in his chair. "How are you feeling? I brought some of my remedies for pain if you need them."

"They have me on good old morphine," Emma said, "I'm good for now." They chatted for a little while. "Addie, I think I'm going to go back to New York for a while."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. Nigel isn't there anymore. I think I just need some time to heal – mentally – from today. I just . . . I think I'm going to go back to New York for a while. I'm going to call Travers later. I don't want to go back to work right away, if at all, Heaven knows I don't need to. I think I might do some more research for a while and I did that best with Travers. Plus, I think Talon misses New York, too. He's there now. He can just stay there and Maddison and I can go back. I'll come back to Seattle eventually. . .but I need time."

"I get it," Addison said, taking Emma's hand in hers. "If you need anything, you call me. I will fly across the country for whatever it is." 

"That's sweet, Addison, but I know better," Emma said, her eyes twinkling. Addison smiled guiltily as they both glanced at Pete.

"What," he asked, confused.

"Nothing," both of them said and then they started to giggle.

**GAGAGA**

Derek had stopped in on Salvador Carmarthen who requested a transfer back to New York so he could go back to his retirement community. "Emma will miss you, I'm sure," Derek said.

"That girl has more things to worry about than me," Sal said, crossing his arms over his chest. "My granddaughter, Rosaline, had a new baby this morning, a boy that she named after me. I want to be there for him like I've been there for Maddison."

"You make an excellent Great-Grandfather," Derek said smiling affably. "Maddison has been very blessed to have you around." 

"Of course she has," Salvador grumbled. "Fool." Derek chuckled and smiled some more, promising to take care of the paperwork and make the phone calls. Derek ran into Mark coming out of Salvador's room.

"Mr. Carmarthen is being transferred back to New York," Derek said, passing the chart to a nurse.

"What for?"

"Has a new great-grandson he wants to meet," Derek said. "I can't believe Emma never told anyone else about him. The hospital probably thinks she's crazy fussing over the old man." 

"Yeah, well, she couldn't save Riggs, so she'll save his grandfather until she can't," Mark said. "He's Riggs' mother's father, right?"

"Yeah," Derek said. "Man, Emma's going to be upset."

"She'll be okay, she has us," Mark said. "What are you doing about Meredith?" 

"What about her?" 

"You can't keep moping around here like you have been," Mark said. "Make a decision and stick with it." Derek nodded. It really was coming down to this. If he let Meredith go he would have to leave Seattle Grace, he wouldn't be able to handle seeing her everyday like that and not being able to talk to her . . . touch her. He sighed. "Good man," Mark said, clapping his friend's shoulder, "I have a certain blonde doctor to go have hot on-call room sex with."

"To much information, Mark," Derek said. "Get out of here." He shook his head as Mark walked off. "Addison," Derek said, surprised, seeing his ex-wife walk up to him. "How is she doing?"

"She'll be okay," Addison said. "Listen, before I go visit Callie, I wanted to give you a heads up. Emma is planning on going back to New York in a little while. I don't think it's a permanent move, but she needs to get away."

Derek nodded. "That makes sense, I guess," he said, "I'll talk to her about it later." Addison nodded and walked off hand-in-hand with Pete. Derek found Meredith in a computer lab, researching something in the computer archives. "Hey," he said from the doorway.

"Hey," Meredith said, glancing at him.

"I have something to say, Meredith, and I want you to let me say it without interruptions," he said. He waited for Meredith to nod before continuing. "I love you. I know that I tell you that all the time, but I mean it. I love you more than I've loved anyone – ever. But I can't do this anymore. I can't stand in the same room with you and not touch you – not kiss you. I can't stay here and not be with you. It's like you're holding my heart and my lungs and you aren't letting either one work. I can't breath. I can't breath when I'm not with you. I can't breath when I'm with you, but for a totally different reason," he stopped and smiled at her, which she returned. "I want to be your knight in shining whatever and I want you to be my damsel under stress. We can do it, I know we can." He sat down beside her. "But," he continued, "I can't do this anymore. I can't. I'm not abandoning you, but I think we need some time apart if we aren't going to be together. I know this is probably the stupidest idea I've ever had, but I can't stand it. I can't. If you aren't ready to be in a committed relationship with me, I'll go back to New York with my sister for a while. It'll give you time to think, time to process, time to decide. You're it for me, Meredith Grey, but I can't stand here and not breathe. I can't."

He sat there, looking at Meredith. He watched as emotions flitted across her face, leaving as soon as they became evident.

"I'm still working on my issues," Meredith said, quietly. "I. . .I don't like the idea of you being the whole way across the country, but I can't work on them and be with you. I need to do this so I'm absolutely sure. I have to. . ."

"So, I'm going to New York then," Derek said quietly, looking at the floor.

"It's your choice, but I suppose so," Meredith said equally quiet and irritated.

"Alright, I'll go talk to Richard," Derek said, standing up with a sigh.

"You're really going to do it," Meredith asked, panicking slightly. Derek stared at her. "You have to leave until I'm ready," she questioned, standing up. "That is the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever heard! I can't believe you're actually going to leave!" 

"It's not forever," Derek said, "just for now. I'll be back. I promise I'll be back. I'll call you, text you, email you. I'm not abandoning you, Meredith; I'm not. I just need some room to breath because I can't breathe you it." He took a step towards her, pulling her flush to him. "If I can't breathe you in, I can't breathe," he said, his voice shaking. "I have to find a way to breathe until you're ready." Meredith nodded, numbly. He really was going. But he promised to come back . . . he promised.

Derek stepped back with difficulty and left the room without a word.

Meredith stood in the computer lab – alone . . .a feeling began creeping up on her . . .a feeling like she couldn't breathe . . .

GAGAGA 

"Let me guess," Richard Webber said when Derek walked into his office, "you want to go to New York for a little while with Lil' Shep and Torres."

"Callie," Derek questioned, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Yes, she's apparently going with your sister to New York. They're calling it vacation," Richard said, irritated. "Now you want to go, too, don't you?" Derek nodded. "Hell," Richard said. "Sloan isn't going, is he?"

"I don't think so," Derek said. "I think Stevens would put up quite a fight if he suggested it right now."

Richard nodded. "Good." He sighed. "Look, you're going to find this out soon enough, but Talon was hit by a taxi. Last I talked to Travers, they weren't sure if he was going to make it. I just wanted to let you know. Travers gave me strict instructions to make sure that Emma didn't find out until we know one way or another."

"When did that happen," Derek asked, shocked.

"About the time Emma was brought up from the clinic," Richard answered, trailing off. "Just don't tell her and I'll approve all of this 'vacation time' for you three," he said sarcastically.

"I'm going to check on Emma," Derek said, distracted by the news of Callie and Talon.

**Author's Note:**

**Alright, so this is actually the next to last chapter. There's one more to go. I hope you guys have all come to love Emma as much as I have. Don't worry though, there's a sequel in the works. I'll post the last chapter tomorrow.**

_**Megan**_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Mark Sloan found Izzie Stephens at a Nurse's station, Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang arguing quietly nearby. "Hey, beautiful," Mark said, leaning against the counter. Meredith and Cristina rolled their eyes and walked away. "What's wrong with them?"

"McDreamy isn't so McDreamy anymore," Izzie said, chewing on the end of her pen with a smile. "But you're still McSteamy."

"I like that my 'McName' is better than Derek's," he said, coming around the counter to stand behind her. "What are you doing?"

"I have a surgery with Hahn tomorrow," she said, "we're doing a heart transplant."

"Congratulations," he said, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling her neck. She sighed contently as Olivia and Debbie walked by.

"Yeah," Izzie said, leaning her head back against his shoulder, "this guy really deserves this heart. He has two little kids. Mark, they are so cute. And his wife is doing the best she can, but she's way stressed. This will be good for them."

"Yeah, okay," Mark said, "but the experience will do you good."

"Yeah," Izzie said, stopping the conversation. She knew sometimes she got too emotionally involved, but Mark would make a point of pointing it out and then they would fight and then they would have make-up sex. That was Mark's favorite part, of course. Izzie's way of getting back was to stop the argument so there was no makeup sex. Sometimes she wasn't sure if she was punishing him or herself.

"Anyway," Izzie said, changing the subject, "apparently McDreamy told Mer that he couldn't be here and not be with her. So he's going to New York until she's ready. I think it's stupid."

"Why do you think it's stupid," Mark asked, stepping back from her. "Derek isn't one of those guys that doesn't commit. He wants a life with her and she can't do that right now. So, he's removing himself from the situation so he doesn't hurt her anymore."

"Don't you see," Izzie said, turning to face her boyfriend, her irritation evident, "Meredith has abandonment issues. First her father, then her mother, and then her fake mother. . . If Derek goes to New York, he'll be abandoning her whether he means to or not. That's how she'll see it."

"Look, this has to do with Derek and Meredith. Let them handle this and we'll just be there for them. Come see Emma with me," Mark said.

"When did _you_ become the voice of reason," Izzie asked as they made their way to Emma's room.

"I don't know," Mark admitted. "Scary, isn't it?"

They found Adele and Maddison in Emma's room when they got there. Maddison was laying in the bed with her mother, hugging her tightly. "Maddy, sweetie, I'm fine," Emma said, trying to comfort her daughter, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here."

"Maddy," Mark asked, chuckling, "what are you doing?"

"Mommy was sick," she said, her voice muffled.

"Yeah, Mommy was sick," Mark said, coming around the bed and kneeling. "Maddy, look at me," he said. The four year old turned her head, but refused to let go of her mother. "Yes, Mommy was sick, but she's better now. Everyone gets sick sometimes."

"They cut her," Maddy said, silent tears streaming down her face.

"Yes, the doctor cut her," Mark agreed, "but she's all better know. They wouldn't have cut her if they didn't know what they were doing. Just like when Mommy cuts Great-Grandpa. Give her a couple of days and she'll be as good as new. Okay?" Maddy nodded and then pressed her face into her mother's side, still not letting go. Mark stood up, shaking his head.

"Cut," Izzie asked. "Surgery?"

"Yeah, it was the way she explained it. We just keep going with it because it works," Mark said. He sighed. "So, rumor has it that Derek is going back to New York for a while," Mark said, looking at Emma. "I wonder where he got that idea."

"If you want to know something," Emma asked, rubbing Maddy's back absently, "all you have to do is ask."

"Fine," Mark said. "Did Derek get that idea because you're going back to New York?"

"I don't know about Derek," Emma confessed, "but, yes, I am going back to New York for a while. I just need time to . . . heal. . . I guess. I won't be gone long, but I guess Callie is coming with me." 

"Torres," Mark asked. "Why is she going to New York?"

"Ask Torres, Dr. Sloan," Adele said. "Emma needs her rest," she said, "you can come back and visit her later." Mark opened his mouth to protest, but Adele cut him off. "I mean it, Dr. Sloan, I may not be a doctor, but I basically raised my niece. Emma needs her rest. Now go."

"Alright, I'm going, geesh," Mark said, grabbing Izzie's hand and pulling her out of the room.

"Mark, I didn't even get to talk to her," Izzie said, laughing.

"She needs her rest," Mark said, sarcastically. Mark sighed again; he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Derek, what are you doing," he asked his friend who rushed past him. "Derek," Mark said again, grabbing a hold of Derek's arm.

"What," Derek asked, exasperated.

"What's going on?"

"Talon," Derek answered, "was hit by a taxi. Travers just took him out of surgery and put him into recovery. I'm going to tell Emma."

"Adele might stop you," Izzie said, "but go ahead. Is he going to be alright?"

"Only time will tell," Derek said. "I don't know much for sure without examining him myself, but Travers told Richard that there were some broken bones and some bleeding. I have a feeling that someone wasn't very forth coming with information." Derek stood there for a second. "You go tell her."

"What?"

"You go tell her, Mark," he said. "I can't do it. I can't tell her that."

"Adele isn't going to let me back in there," Mark pointed out.

"Where is Adele keeping you out of," Richard asked, coming up to the three of them. "Have you talked to Emma, yet?"

"Not yet," Derek said, biting his bottom lip. "I was trying to get Mark to do it."

"I'll do it," Richard said. "Come back in with me," he said. The three doctors laughed because the Chief of Surgery was scared of his wife . . . or Emma . . . either way – it was hilarious. Richard opened the door slowly.

"Richard," Adele exclaimed, "I just sent Dr. Sloan away to let Emma rest. What do you want?"

"Emma," Richard said, quietly, "I need to talk to you. Adele, could you take Maddison to get some ice cream?"

Adele gave her husband a confused look before coaxing the four year old away from her mother with the promise of an ice cream sundae – a big one.

"Emma," Richard said, pulling the chair closer to the bed and sitting down. "I've been on and off the phone with Kyle Travers for the last couple of hours." Emma raised an eyebrow at him.

"This isn't about me going to New York for a while is it?"

"No, this isn't about you or Torres or Shep going to New York," he told her.

"Torres and Shep," Emma asked. "What are they going to New York for? Derek?"

Derek shrugged.

"Richard, what's going on," Emma sighed. She glanced over at Mark and Izzie who were whispering urgently to each other. Emma thought Izzie looked particularly upset. Emma couldn't breathe as she listened to Richard telling her that Kevin Talon had been in an accident. She didn't hear him as he listed off Talon's injuries, but she started breathing again when he told her that Talon was in Recovery. "When can I go to New York and see him," she asked, quietly.

"I've talked to Carmen Loduca," Richard said. "She claims if you promise to stay in a wheelchair as much as possible that you can continue your own recovery in New York. Normally she wouldn't even consider it. Emma, you've just had major surgery. Travers can keep us updated."

"No," Emma said, "I have to go be with him. I need to go – now." Before anyone realized it, Emma was out of bed, pulling her IV along with her as she went to the closet to get some clothes. "Derek, help me out here," she said, "I need my stuff. Let's go home so I can pack. Derek?"

Derek just stared at his sister. He couldn't believe that he was going to go to New York and leave Meredith in Seattle. Mark was right, though, he needed to make a decision and stick with it. "Alright, let's go to New York."

**GAGAGA**

Two days later, Emma sat in Salvador's room. They had gotten word that morning that Kevin Talon was expected to make a full recovery since he had woken up within 48 hours. The Chief had asked Callie, Derek, and Emma to give him two weeks before taking off so he could switch things around for while they were gone. Even if he hadn't, Dr. Loduca had decided Emma wasn't up for traveling or would have to wait at least a week to get on a plane. It didn't help that Kyle Travers was siding with Seattle Grace over Emma.

Mark was afraid Derek would lose his resolve and stay in Seattle. Callie was making plans. They had bought a house, sending Emma's sister to look at it, outside of the city. Emma had kept her loft apartment near the hospital and would use it if they had to should any of them decide to go back to work at the hospital for the time they were in New York.

"Emma," Salvador said, waking up.

"Salvador," she replied, smiling. She was sitting in a wheelchair beside his bed. Nurse Tyler had taken it upon himself to make sure she got where she needed to go. "Are you ready to go back to the east coast?"

"The nurses are talking about your return to the east coast, too," he told her, adjusting his bed so he was sitting up.

"Are they," she asked, amused. _Nurses talk too much_.

"Yes, and the Residents are bitching."

"Sal," Emma chastised in mock outrage.

"What," he asked, smiling, "they are."

_So Residents talk too much, too. Don't they know they aren't supposed to have personal conversation around patients_?

"Well, they're Residents," Emma pointed out, "they tend to do that." Sal nodded.

"Esther called," he told her, grinning; "she's missed me."

"Good," Emma smiled as Nurse Tyler walked in.

"Dr. Loduca wants to check on you," he told her, "so you have to go back to your room."

"Fine," Emma said. "I'll see you in New York, Sal."

"Bye, Dr. Shepard," Sal said, laughing. Emma shook her head as Nurse Tyler kicked the brakes of the wheelchair off and headed for the elevators.

"That Mr. Carmarthen is quite a character," Nurse Tyler said.

Emma smiled to herself. "He certainly is."

Salvador Carmarthen was transported to New York City where he was examined before going back to his retirement home in Jersey, where Esther waited eagerly for his return.

A week and a half later, the staff of Seattle Grace threw a going-away party for three of their doctors. Everyone noticed how Meredith Grey was quiet – too quiet. Some went as far as feeling concerned for her well being should Derek Shepard decide to physically leave Seattle.

Emma brought up her own concerns to Cristina Yang, Meredith's "Person" as they sat around a Nurse's Station on Emma's floor the day before they were to go to New York.

"She'll be fine," Cristina said, going over charts. "I get that McDreamy has to get away for a while. Meredith does, too; but that doesn't mean that her subconscious won't see it as abandonment." Emma raised an eyebrow at her. "We've gotten out our old Psych books," Cristina explained, looking embarrassed.

"She's trying," Emma said. "She's trying really hard. Maybe she needs to time of way from Derek, too, so she can focus."

"That's good," Cristina said, "I'm going to tell her that. Focus. She'll be fine, Emma. I'm sure Izzie will call you if it isn't." Emma laughed. She and Cristina had become good friends, mostly since Dr. Hahn wouldn't let Yang into any of the cardio cases – although Emma was at a loss as to why – and Emma would slide her into one. "How long are you planning on being in New York?"

"Not too long, I think," Emma said, wheeling her chair back and forth. "Callie's talking about having the baby in Central Park," Emma laughed, "as if I would let her." Cristina smiled. "O'Malley will be coming out for the birth if we're still in New York," Emma said, "I'm not sure if his nurse is coming with him or not." 

"I don't think Bambi and the nurse will last," Cristina said, filing the chart she had been working on. "She's weird and he's . . . Bambi."

Emma shrugged. It wasn't any of her concern. Callie was her concern. Addison had made plans to be in New York or Seattle doing the last two weeks of Callie's pregnancy.

Everything would be okay, Emma thought. Meredith and Derek will get over whatever problems they're having and be happy. Mark had told Emma he was actually considering proposing to Izzie. And, as a going away present to Cristina, Emma had talked to Erica Hahn – not that Erica would tell Emma why she hated the Resident – and arranged for Cristina to get into some surgeries.

As a six months pregnant Callie Torres, a love-struck Derek Sheppard, and a healing Emma Shepard got onto a plane following an excited Maddison Shepard-Riggs, they felt a wave of hope wash over them – hope of a better future for everyone in their lives. They couldn't explain it, but the feeling was there and it was all that counted.

Mark Sloan stood in the terminal of the airport with several people from the hospital and Adele, he knew that they would return sooner then they thought. He couldn't explain it, either, but he knew it. After all, he thought, Seattle is simply irresistible.

**Author's Note: **

Okay, so this story is done. I'm not sure what I was trying to do with it, but there you go. ****** Anyway, there is a sequel for anyone interested. I haven't started on it, but I'm planning a Grey's Anatomy/House, M.D. crossover for the sequel. I'm planning on making it that House is Derek and Emma's cousin. I have a lot of crazy ideas running in my head. Ideas are welcome and appreciated. **

**Anyway, the purpose of this particular author's note is to thank you for reading. I really appreciate it. This story has been a lot of fun to write and I'm really proud of myself for finishing it, even though I don't think any conflict was resolved. Well, except for maybe the fact that Derek now has family with him – which I think he really needs – and Emma is divorced and okay with her life. She has new friends – people who care about her other than her family. Hey, maybe there was some conflict resolution after all. Thanks again for reading. It'll take a couple of weeks to start posting the sequel because I like to write ahead. **

**Until then, stay safe and keep reading!**


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